Issue 1: January – February 2018
The Visual Artists' News Sheet
Inside This Issue INTERVIEW WITH JOHN RAINEY GRANGEGORMAN PUBLIC ART PROGRAMME THE LEGACY OF BILLION JOURNAL HAS THE ARTIST BEEN CONSULTED?
Contents On The Cover John Rainey, Variants (detail) 2017; image courtesy Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast.
First Pages 6. 8.
Roundup. Exhibitions and events from the past two months. News. The latest developments in the arts sector.
Columns 10. 11.
Opinion. Has the Artist Been Consulted? Fiona Woods. Opinion. Gender Issues in the Art World. Áine Phillips. Northern Ireland. Catalyst Arts: Greater than the Sum of its Parts. Joey O'Gorman.
Regional Focus: Armagh, Banbirdge, Craigavon 12. 13. 14.
Art Market. Christine Donnelly, Armagh Market Place and Arts Centre. Collective Ambition. Paul King, SHORE Collective. Sculpting A Place. Riann Coulter, F.E. McWilliam Gallery. Traces, Spaces. Joanne Proctor, Visual Artist. Enthusiatic Commissioning. Johnny Cordner, Millenium Court Arts Centre. The Craigavon Project. Emma Drury, Arts Development Officer.
How is it Made? 15.
In Support of Black Mountain. Manuela Pacella interviews Andreas Kindler Von Knobloch.
Career Development 16.
Material Uncertainty. Matt Packer interviews artist John Rainey.
Festival 18.
Editorial HAPPY NEW YEAR and welcome to the newly redesigned January – February 2018 issue of the Visual Artists’ News Sheet. In the Columns for this issue, Áine Phillips offers a topical overview of gender issues in the arts, while Fiona Woods discusses best practice in artist-focused commissioning in her column ‘Has the Artist Been Consulted?’. In the NI column, Joey O’Gorman outlines his experiences as former co-director of Catalyst Arts, Belfast. In the Artists’ Publishing section, Andy Parsons and Glenn Holman discuss their recent artists’ publication, The Rebel(s), while Ben Weir outlines his recent book, published in response to urban redevelopment in Belfast City Centre. In the Public Art section, Christopher Steenson interviews Robin Price about his recent environmental public art project, Automated Bird Rave Generator, while Laurie Kilmurry interviews Jenny Haughton about the evolution of the Grangegorman public art programme. In the Organisation Profiles for this issue, Alan Phelan interviews Mary Cremin about her new role and upcoming programme at Void, Derry, while Nuala Clarke reports on the Ballinglen Arts Foundation and fellowship programme in County Mayo, which has just celebrated 25 years. This issue features several Festival and Conference reports: Don O’Mahony reports on Sonic Vigil 10; Jane Morrow reports on Belfast Open Studios and Joanne Laws reports from IVARO’s Artist’s Estate Manage-
ment conference, hosted by the RHA in late November. In the How is it Made? section, Matt Packer interviews John Rainey about the evolution of his sculptural practice. In the Career Development section, Manuela Pacella interviews Andreas Kindler Von Knobloch about his recent residency at Catalyst Arts, Belfast. In addition, Chris Hayes’s extended essay assesses the contributions of James Merrigan’s Billion blog to Irish art criticism. The Regional Profile for this issue comes from the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon region (ACBC Borough), outlining recent cultural activities of: The Market Place Theatre, Armagh; F.E. McWilliam Gallery, Banbridge; Craigavon Arts Office; and Millennium Court Arts Centre, Portadown. In addition, artist Joanne Proctor discusses the reality of maintaining an art practice in the region, while Paul King provides an update from the SHORE Collective. Reviewed in the Critique section are: Yvonne McGuinness at Draíocht Arts Centre; Brígh Strawbridge-O'Hagan at Birr Theatre and Arts Centre; ‘The Otherworld Hall’ at Solstice Arts Centre; and Robert and Barbara Ellison at The Island Art Centre, Lisburn. As ever, we have details of upcoming VAI Professional Development Programme, exhibition and public art roundups, news from the sector and current opportunities.
Sonorous Congregations. Don O'Mahoney reports on Sonic Vigil 10.
Conference 19.
Valuing Artistic Legacy. Joanne Laws reports on IVARO's Artists' Estates Conference.
The Visual Artists' News Sheet:
Features Editor: Joanne Laws Production Editor/Design: Christopher Steenson News/Opportunities: Shelly McDonnell, Siobhan Mooney
Visual Artists Ireland:
CEO/Director: Noel Kelly Office Manager: Bernadette Beecher Northern Ireland Manager: Rob Hilken Communications Officer: Shelly McDonnell Membership Officer: Siobhan Mooney Publications: Joanne Laws, Christopher Steenson Website Listings: Shelly McDonnell, Siobhan Mooney, Christopher Steenson Bookkeeping: Dina Mulchrone
VAI Event 20.
Belfast Open Studios 2017. Jane Morrow discusses Belfast Open Studios.
Legacy 22.
[Plus or Minus] Billion. Chris Hayes assesses the legacy of Billion Journal.
Artist Publishing 23. Satirical Insurgence. Andy Parsons and Glenn Holman discuss The Rebel(s). 24. Building a Book. Ben Weir discusses publishing and Belfast’s urban redevelopment.
Board of Directors: Mary Kelly (Chair), Michael Fitzpatrick, Richard Forrest, Paul Moore, Mary-Ruth Walsh, Dónall Curtin, Michael Corrigan, Charlotte Farrelly, Cliodhna Ní Anluain
Public Art 26. 28.
Expanding Confines. Laurie Kilmurry interviews Jenny Haughton about the Grangegorman public art programme. (Tree) House Music. Christopher Steenson interviews Robin Price about his environmental public art installation.
Organisational Profile 29. 30.
Remote Resource. Nuala Clarke reports on the Ballinglen Arts Foundation. Where History Begins Again. Alan Phelan interviews Mary Cremin.
Last Pages 32. Public Art Roundup. Art outside of the gallery. 34. Opportunities. Grants, awards, exhibitions calls and commissions. 35. VAI Professional Development. Upcoming workshops, seminars and peer reviews.
Critique Supplement
Republic of Ireland Office
Northern Ireland Office
Visual Artists Ireland Windmill View House 4 Oliver Bond Street Merchants Quay, Dublin 8 T: +353 (0)1 672 9488 E: info@visualartists.ie W: visualaritsts.ie
Visual Artists Ireland 109 Royal Avenue Belfast BT1 1FF T: +44 (0)28 958 70361 E: info@visualartists-ni.org W: visualartists-ni.org
Principle Funders
Project Funders
Corporate Sponsors
Project Partners
‘Amharc Fhine Gall 11th Edition’ at Draíocht Arts Centre; ‘At the Fade’ at Birr Theatre and Arts Centre; Robert and Barbara Ellison at The Island Art Centre, Lisburn; and ‘The Otherworld Hall’ at Solstice Arts Centre. International Memberships
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Roundup
Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
EXHIBITIONS AND EVENTS FROM THE PAST TWO MONTHS
Dublin
Belfast
A4 SOUNDS ‘Pearl’ was a solo exhibition by Mónika Böygös which ran at A4 Sounds, Dublin, 17 – 26 Nov. The exhibition presented a new body of work created by Böygös during a recent residency at A4 Sounds. The show consisted of numerous textile pieces that reused and reworked drawings made in her sketchbooks while she was an art student. The tactile works employed a diverse range of materials, including unprimed canvas, human hair and shells. According to the press release, these materials "transform and bring new life to previous work, which would otherwise have been stored away, forgotten and subject to the erasures of time".
ARTBOX ArtBox, Dublin, hosted the exhibition ‘Florilegium: A Gathering of Flowers’ by Naomi Draper, 2 – 26 Nov. The exhibition referenced historical botanical research to explore the relationship between humans and plant species. The centerpiece of the exhibition was a large-scale pressed flower installation, which was complimented by a series of lithograph prints and drawings in glass. Composer Sean Carpio developed an accompanying sonic work, which was performed on 24 Nov as a part of Dublin Gallery Weekend.
GOLDEN THREAD ‘Dissolving Histories: A Moment in Time’ runs in Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast, until 20 Jan. The exhibition features the work of Liam Crichton, Erin Hagan, Dorothy Hunter, Kevin Killen and John Rainey – five artists whose diverse practices seek to capture, explore and explain moments in time. 'A Moment in Time' is the first in the 'Dissolving Histories' series, which follows the acclaimed 'Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art', conceived to "explore the unreliable nature of history." The exhibition is curated by Peter Richards and Sarah McAvera. An interview with John Rainey is featured in this issue.
THE MAC ‘Shonky: The Aesthetics of Awkwardness’ runs at the MAC, Belfast, until 14 Jan. Curated by artist John Walter, this Hayward Touring exhibition explores a particular type of visual aesthetic that is “hand-made, deliberately clumsy and lo-fi” against a backdrop of slick production values that are so prevalent within contemporary art. The exhibition draws together the work of artists and architects such as: Arakawa and Gins; Cosima von Bonin; Niki de Saint Phalle; Benedict Drew; Justin Favela; Duggie Fields; Louise Fishman; Friedensreich Hundertwasser; Kate Lepper; Andrew Logan; Plastique Fantastique; Jacolby Satterwhite; Tim Spooner and John Walter.
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HUGH LANE Curated by Basic Space in partnership with The Hugh Lane, BASIC TALKS is a platform for lectures, workshops, presentations and performances by leading contemporary practitioners. BASIC TALKS take place on the second Friday of every month. Artist Irina Gheorghe presented her ongoing research at The Hugh Lane on 8 December, in a lecture-performance titled ‘Preliminary Remarks on the Study of What Is Not There’. Gheorghe is currently a PhD candidate at GradCAM, DIT, and her current work explores “the notion of deviation as a technique of estranging the everyday”.
NAG GALLERY With plans to relocate to Portugal, Dublin’s Nag Gallery presented its final exhibitions from 16 Nov to 12 Dec 2017. Marking the fourth collaboration between the gallery and John Hutchison, Gallery 2 showcased Iranian nomadic textiles from Hutchinson’s personal collection. As visual remnants of deep cultural roots, Hutchinson finds these once useful “vernacular textiles” satisfyingly authentic. In response to the collection, Nag artist Pertiwi presented an installation in Gallery 1. Examining the harmonious relationship between nomadic tribes and their surroundings, Pertiwi used natural materials, including sheep’s wool that was spun into threads, felted into cloth, or tinted with plant dyes.
NAUGHTON GALLERY The Naughton Gallery presents ‘The Immigrants’, a solo exhibition of new work by Pil and Galia Kollectiv, which opened on 7 December 2017 and continues until 4 February 2018. Pil and Galia Kollectiv are London-based artists, writers and curators who work collaboratively. According to the press release, their multidisciplinary work “explores the relationship between art and politics, the legacy of modernism, and the avant-garde discourses of the twentieth century”. Their installation comprises “filmed vignettes” that explore “the futility of the border” as an abstract boundary marker in an age of global capital, migrant labour and environmental destruction.
OUTBURST QUEER ARTS FESTIVAL Outburst Queer Arts Festival 2017 ran across various venues in Belfast from 9 – 18 Nov. The festival is an annual celebration of queer art and performance, which showcases both local and international artists. This year, the festival programme featured an extensive range of visual art, film, theatre, performance and participatory events. Also included in the programme was a Queer Arts symposium, which took place in the Green Room of Black Box on 10 Nov. The focus of the symposium was on how international projects and touring networks can be developed for queer work.
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nagallery.ie
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outburstarts.com
NCAD GALLERY The Ireland Glass Biennale 2017 ran at the National College of Art Design Gallery, Dublin, 27 Oct – 13 Nov. The newly founded exhibition intended to highlight excellence in contemporary glasswork by international artists, designers and crafts practitioners working across the globe today. The biennale included work by: Alison Lowry (UK); Laetitia Andrighetto and Jean-Charles Miot (FR); and Emma Bourke (IE). An expert jury, via open call, selected the work displayed.
RHA ‘Body Language’ ran at the Royal Hiberian Academy (RHA) from 17 Nov until 10 Dec. The event was a durational, multimedia project and was a first-of-itskind collaboration between the RHA and CoisCéim Dance Theatre. During the three-week duration of the event, new artworks were created from live interviews, choreography, video projection, music and dance to interogate the role of non-verbal communication in the digital, aural and physical realms. The project featured choreography, video and photography from artist Christopher Ash, music by Michael Fleming and dance performances from artists Justine Cooper, Jonathan Mitchell, Ivonne Kalter, Emma O’Kane and Jake Webb.
PLATFORM ARTS Platform Arts ran its annual members shows ‘PXVII’ from 8 to 23 December 2017. Platform Arts objective is the encouragement of upcoming and established artists and the pursuit of strengthening the contemporary art scene in Northern Ireland. The exhibiting artists included: Alex Brunt, Hannah Casey-Brogan, Rachael Campbell-Palmer, Gerard Carson, Andrew Glenn, Chris McCambridge, Niamh McCann, Niamh McConaghy, Lyndsey McDougall and Eamon Quinn.
PS2 PS2, Belfast, hosted the first UK solo exhibition by New York-based artist Amber Hawk Swanson (10 Nov – 2 Dec) as a part of the Outburst Queer Arts Festival 2017. The exhibition drew on the artists’ experiences as a long-time member of the silicon sex doll community, cataloguing her relationship with ‘Amber Doll’ – a sex doll made in her likeness that became her artistic and romantic partner for five years. The exhibition also featured Swanson’s interactions with “doll husbands – men, who for various reasons, have formed intimate relationships with dolls".
ncad.ie
rhagallery.ie
platformartsbelfast.com
pssquared.org
John Hutchinson Collection, installation view at Nag Gallery, Dublin; image courtesy Mark St. John Ellis
Naomi Draper, 'Florilegium: A Gathering of Flowers', installation view at ArtBox, Dublin
Amber Hawk Swanson, Shower Curtain Kiss and Pieces at PS2, Belfast
Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
Jennifer Trouton, Ariadne's thread, oil on canvas at Lavitt Gallery, Cork
Roundup
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Bob Quinn, The Family, 1979; shown as part of Tulca Festival 2017 'They Call Us The Screamers'
Rosarie McHugh, Antiquorum Redintegro III, 2017; shown as part of 'Ancient and Wild', Cavan library
CCA DERRY A solo exhibition by Indian artist, Praneet Soi, was presented at CCA Derry, entitled ‘Patterns (The Falling Figures and other stories)’ (27 Oct – 16 Dec 2017). The exhibition included a video work, recent paintings, a newly-commissioned sculpture, and Srinagar – an installation on loan from the Van Abbemuseum collection, comprising wall-based drawings, texts and papier-mâché tiles developed by the artist and Kashmiri artisans. According to the press release, one of the artist’s ongoing inquiries is “the casting of a personal narrative over politicised subject matter”. Installed across CCA’s three gallery spaces, ‘Patterns’ was Soi’s most significant presentation in Ireland and the UK to date.
CLAREMORRIS GALLERY ‘WONDERMENT’ was a group exhibition at Claremorris Gallery to mark the gallery’s tenth year (18 Nov – 24 December). It showcased a diverse range of Irish painting and drawing. The Claremorris Gallery came emerged of the town’s longstanding associations with contemporary art, found in the Claremorris Open Exhibition (est. 1977) and the award-winning cultural activity of the George Moore Society. ‘WONDERMENT’ is a celebration of small towns with big skies. Featured artists: Brian Bourke, Barrie Cooke, Michael Farrell, Martin Gale, Bernadette Kiely, Hughie O’Donoghue, Tony O’Malley, Dermot Seymour, Camille Souter, Donald Teskey and Charles Tyrrell.
THE DOCK ‘Mechanism’ was a solo exhibition by Andrew Kearney which ran at The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon, from 27 Oct to 9 Dec. Through a series of large-scale, site-responsive sculptural installations, Kearney explored the layered history of The Dock – a nineteenth-century courthouse building which forms part of a former prison complex. A range of technological devices linked the life and sounds of the town with the interior gallery space. Using this democratic and performative approach to exhibition-making, Kearney responds to the psyche of the space, reconciling the building’s past with its modern usage.
JOHNSTON CENTRAL LIBRARY, CAVAN As part of the Creative Ireland programme, Cavan County Council arts and heritage office and the UNESCO Marble Arch Caves Global Geopark have invited twelve artists to engage with and respond to the landscape, geology, and socio-political history of County Cavan and, in particular, the area of the Geopark. The group exhibition, ‘Ancient and Wild’, is currently showing at Johnston Central Library, Cavan (11 Dec to 6 Jan). The participating artists are: Bee Smith, Heather Brett, Jim Fee, Ben McCabe, Freda Young, Cormac McCann, Elena Duff, Rikki van den Berg, Siobhan Harton, Rosarie McHugh and Konik Artists Pawel Kleszczewski and Kasia Zimnoch.
cca-derry-londonderry.org
claremorrisgallery.com
thedock.ie
cavanarts.ie
LAURE GENILLARD, LONDON A solo exhibition by Irish artist Grace Weir titled ‘Unfolded’ took place at the Laure Genillard gallery – a private contemporary art space in Fitzrovia, London (30 Sept – 18 Nov 2017). Curated by Jo Melvin, the exhibition was the first occasion Weir’s recent films and installation works were shown in London, including her film, A reflection on Light (2015). According to the press release, the filmic processes employed by Weir “take us on journeys where we witness unfolding contingencies”. As viewers, we are “brought into constellations – processes of intersection and divergence”.
LAVIT GALLERY The Lavit Gallery, Cork, showed a group exhibition, ‘Molesworth’, presenting work from six Irish artists ( 9 Nov to 2 Dec). The exhibition was a collaboration with the Molesworth Gallery, Dublin, which intended to showcase some of the leading names of Irish contemporary art. Included in the exhibition was: Catherine Barron, Helen Blake, Thomas Brezing, Gabhann Dunne, Vera Klute and Jennifer Trouton.
LIMERICK CITY GALLERY OF ART Currently showing at Limerick City Gallery of Art is ‘Master of my Universe’, a solo exhibition by artist Theresa Nanigian (3 Nov 2017 – 14 Jan 2018). This is the second iteration of a national tour, titled ‘just a bit extraordinary’, comprising three distinct exhibitions by Nanigian. Curated by Aoife Ruane, the tour began in April 2017 at The LAB Gallery, Dublin, with the exhibition ‘trying to behave’, which showcased photographs, wall text panels and a short video. The third and final exhibition in the ‘just a bit extraordinary’ series will open at the Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, in September 2018.
THE MODEL The Model, Sligo, is currently showing ‘Turbulence’ (2 Dec 2017 – 22 Apr 2018) – a group exhibition that examines the ways in which Irish and international artists are responding to the ongoing migrant crisis. This major exhibition takes place across The Model’s seven galleries and considers the historic effects of politics and power on the movement of people, exploring the socio-political implications of post-colonialism, humanity and hospitality. ‘Turbulence’ features the work of: Rossella Biscotti (IT), Elaine Hoey (IE), Gülsün Karamustafa (TR), Naiza Khan (UK/PK), Eoin McHugh (IE), Cengiz Tekin (TR) and Sarah Wood (UK).
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TULCA FESTIVAL The 15th edition of TULCA Festival of Visual Art – titled ‘They Call Us The Screamers’ – was presented across six venues in Galway city from 3 – 19 Nov. Curated by Matt Packer, the exhibition referenced a book written in 1980 by Jenny James about the Atlantis commune she established in Burtonport, County Donegal. According to the press release, "the members of the commune were collectively nicknamed ‘The Screamers’ in a 1976 Sunday World article, referring to their practice of primal scream therapy." Artworks and new commissions were orientated around notions of withdrawal and selfhood; autonomy and self-sufficiency; voice and neurosis; future culture and community.
RONCHINI GALLERY, LONDON The Ronchini Gallery, London, presents its second solo exhibition by Irish artist Sean Lynch entitled ‘Devil in the Detail’ (24 Nov – 20 Jan). As stated in the press release, Lynch’s artistic practice focuses on “storytelling, almost-forgotten histories and unwritten narratives”. He creates new content in order to memorialise the often-overlooked stories that “bind communities and shape society”. Accompanied by a new catalogue, Lynch’s exhibition “brings together a collection of sculptures, photographs and prints, each pointing to how our environments are brought into being, shaped and understood. As the exhibition title suggests, not everything goes according to plan.”
ROSCOMMON ARTS CENTRE Currently showing at Roscommon Arts Centre, ‘A Portrait: Lough Key’ by Anna Macleod and Padraig Cunningham marks the third iteration of ‘The Park Project’ – an annual residency developed by curator Linda Shevlin to allow artists to work within the historical and contemporary contexts of the spaces around Lough Key in County Roscommon. Macleod and Cunningham worked with local community members to develop a “time-scape” of the lake, enacted through the life cycle of the Mayfly. The Mayfly motif offers a “portal into the reflective, upside-down worlds” of this complex body of water. The exhibition continues until 12 January 2018.
WANDESFORD QUAY GALLERY Elaine Hoey presented her solo exhibition, ‘The Ground Opened Up’, at Wandesford Quay Gallery, Cork, from 15 to 17 November. According to the press release, Hoey “appropriates contemporary digital technologies and aesthetics to explore the politics of humanity”. Her interactive virtual-reality installation, ‘The Ground Opened Up’, invited viewers to “enter a world that is in mourning, where power over one’s body is threatened, provoking internal anxieties of loss of control at the ultimate site of contention – the body”.
themodel.ie
ronchinigallery.com
roscommonartscentre.ie
ccad-research.org/gallery
Regional & International
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News
Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
THE LATEST FROM THE ARTS SECTOR
VAI News
General News
AGE AND ARTS FUNDING The Arts Council of Northern Ireland (ACNI) has announced funding of over £192,000 for 19 organisations across the region to deliver community-based arts projects that will benefit older people. The funding is part of the ACNI’s ‘Arts and Older People’ programme, which aims to tackle issues of loneliness and isolation faced by older people by increasing their participation in the arts. The ‘Arts and Older People’ programme has supported 19 projects to date. ‘Artful Ageing’ at Eastside Arts and ‘A little of what you fancy’ at the Golden Thread Gallery in Belfast have received funding, whilst outside of the city, Young at HeART in Dungannon and Creative Ageing Initiative in Derry have also received support. A new round of funding for the programme will open at the start of 2018.
IRISH ARTIST WINS EIKON (45+) AWARD EIKON is an international magazine for photography and media art, based in Austria. To mark the occasion of the one-hundredth issue of the magazine, EIKON recently announced the creation of their EIKON Award (45+), under the patronage of VALIE EXPORT. The award, announced in June 2017, was open only to women artists. The jury for the award, composed of Jürgen Klauke, Margot Pilz and Æsa Sigurjónsdóttir, chose Northern Irish video, photography and installation artist Susan MacWilliam as the first-prize winner. MacWilliam received a cash prize of €5000, with the award ceremony taking place on 17 November 2017. The second and third place winners of the award were Icelandic artist Katrín Elvarsdóttir and German artist Gabriele Rothemann. The winners successfully surpassed the competition of the 273 other women from 23 different nations, who also applied for the award.
HARASSMENT IN THE ARTS SECTOR In the face of increasing media reports of alleged sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace, Minister Heather Humphreys has announced a suite of measures to prevent harassment within workplaces related to the arts and culture sector. The measures will apply to all related bodies that answer directly to the Minister’s department and include specific initiative in conjunction with the Arts Council of Ireland. The proposed measures include the attendance of mandatory workshops for board members and senior staff that will focus on governance in general, with particular emphasis on bullying, abuse of power and sexual harassment in the workplace. Speaking of the proposed measures, Humphreys stated that the initiatives are “intended to facilitate the entire sector to work collectively to drive out unacceptable behaviour”.
ACES AWARDS Seven people from Northern Ireland working in the visual arts and community arts have recieved awards under the Artist Career Enhancement (ACES) scheme. Andrea Spencer (glass artist), Clare Gormley (curator), Emily McFarland (video and sculpture), Liam Crichton (sculpture and installation), Samantha Moore (silversmith) and Mary Murphy (craft and design) recieved awards to enhance their career in the visual arts. Additionally, Jennifer Goddard (theatre and drama) recieved funding to further their career in community arts. Under the awards scheme, each artist recieves a bursary of £5000 and is partnered with a professional organisation to deliver their creative work. The ACES forms part of the wider Support for Individual Artists Programme (SIAP) adminstered by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland (ACNI). In total, 20 artists were awarded funding under the 2017/18 leg of the scheme.
UPDATE TO EUROPEAN FUND FINDER The IETM has updated its Fund-Finder, the Guide to funding opportunities for arts and culture in Europe, beyond Creative Europe – 2017 edition. With shrinking budgets for arts across Europe, the IETM set up the Fund-Finder as a comprehensive resource that would allow artists and creatives to have access to relevant information about the existing funding opportunities that are available. Particularly, the guide gives information of both public and private funding opportunities that can act as alternatives to European funding or match the co-funding required for EU-funded projects. For this 2017 update, the author has updated weblinks and information, and added new funding schemes and additional examples, particularly for the EU-funded programmes. The Fund-Finder can be found on the IETM website at: ietm.org/en/publications/fund-finder
NEW MINISTER FOR CHG Josepha Madigan, Fine Gael TD for Dublin Rathdown, has been named the new Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in a cabinet reshuffle. Josepha Madigan is a first-time TD, elected at the 2016 General Election. Madigan replaces Heather Humphreys, who in turn will replace Frances Fitzgerald as Minister of Business, Enterprise and Innovation.
TBG+S PROJECT STUDIO AWARDS Four artists have been awarded studio spaces at Temple Bar Gallery + Studios (TBG+S). Project Studios have been awarded to artists Aisling McCoy, Alice Rekab, Myrid Carten and Tamsin Snow for 2018. Project Studios offer a one year tenure and are generally awarded to artists at an earlier point in their career.
IMMA 1000 RESIDENCY AWARD WINNERS The Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) has recently announced the first winners of the new IMMA 1000 Residency Award. The four artists selected for the IMMA 1000 Residency Programme are Jenny Brady, Neil Carroll, Dragana Jurisic, and artist duo Walker and Walker. The awards are supported by the IMMA 1000 fund, and provide these five Irish artists with a studio space and financial bursary. According to the press release, the IMMA 100 fund has been set up to “secure the artist ecosystem for the future”. The fund will attempt to fulfill this aim by: supporting artists’ income through commissions and exhibitions; supporting artists’ work through the purchasing of work for the IMMA Collection; and supporting artists to live and work in Ireland through bursaries and the IMMA residency programme. The fund was conceived on behalf of businessman John Cunningham, who is the Director of CheckRisk. Cunningham responded to a talk by IMMA director Sarah Glennie, where she outlined the difficulties faced by artists in Ireland following in the economic crisis of 2008. Together with a group of other founding donors, Cunningham raised €20,000. The corporate founder of the 1000 fund, Goodbody also contributed a significant sum, bringing the total founding fund to €60,000. IMMA aim to raise an additional €250,000 for the fund by the end of 2018, with Goodbody committing to contribute significant funds to the initiative over the next three years.
VAI ANNUAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY The Visual Artists Ireland Annual General Assembly took place on the 31 October 2017 in the boardroom of the VAI offices at Windmill View House, Oliver Bond Street, Dublin. The chairperson for the assembly was Mary A. Kelly. Mary Kelly began the assembly by thanking the board for their participation throughout the year, as well as thanking the VAI and IVARO staff for their continued hard work in supporting artists throughout their careers. Noel Kelly, CEO, continued the assembly with a presentation of VAI’s accounts for 2016, which were overall positive, showing a small surplus. He also noted a number of achievements in VAI’s advocacy programme, which began to gain momentum in 2016. These achievements included the Arts and Education programme, ensuring that culture is placed at the centre of education. Noel Kelly also noted that 2016 seen the introduction of the Artists’ Welfare Scheme, which ensures that artists are guaranteed Job Seekers Allowance on the proviso that they present their VAI membership card as proof of professional status. Looking forward into 2018, Noel Kelly stated that a number of other advances in VAI’s advocacy programme were planned. Following on from extensive discussions during the 2015 Annual General Assembly, one of these issues would be funding for artist studios. Other important issues for the future would be the impact of Brexit on artists’ working lives, both north and south of the border.
NEW AND IMPROVED VAI WEBSITE Visual Artists Ireland is launching a newly designed website in January. The new design provides a new look for the organisation, whilst retaining the core features of the previous website. Notably, the new website is equipped with a friendlier user navigation system, making it easier for you to find webpages and make use of VAI services that you are interested in. The new website is also now more mobile friendly, meaning that you can more easily access information on-the-go. The ‘How To Manual’, previously known as ‘The Manual – A Survival Guide for Visual Artists’, has been restructured to allow for quicker access to the articles you need. The new Arts Directory has a comprehensive list of all arts organisations in Ireland with a list of public, commercial and artist-led galleries, as well as a list of artist studios, colleges, resource centres and Local Authority Arts Offices. To see the new website for yourself, visit: visualartists.ie
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Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
Columns
Opinion
Opinion
Has the Artist Been Consulted?
Gender Issues in the Art World
Fiona Woods
Áine Phillips
INTERROGATING THE LANGUAGE OF CURRENT POLICY-MAKING, FIONA WOODS MAKE A CASE FOR NEGOTIATION.
AMIDST WIDESPREAD MEDIA REPORTS OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN CULTURAL SECTORS, ÁINE PHILLIPS ASSESSES THE SITUATION IN THE ARTS.
CULTURE, as the great Raymond Williams said, is one of the most complicated words in the English language. This, he argued, is mainly due to the way in which the concept is used in several "distinct and incompatible systems of thought".1 The relevance of this statement is apparent on reading Culture 2025: A Framework Policy, published by the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs in 2016. The closest this document comes to a definition of culture is when it declares that “culture is a constantly evolving concept that is shaped by many influences”.2 Like other statements and claims in the policy document, words are here used cleverly to say nothing at all. Rhetorical nebulousness facilitates the strategic appropriation of important concepts by powerful interests. While culture cannot be conclusively defined, it is necessary to adopt working definitions that resist such homogenisation. The definition I use is: ‘culture = the production and negotiation of meaning and value’. The dimension of ‘negotiation’ is vital, as it opens the possibility for contestation and for difference, including refusal, non-cooperation and dissent. Culture 2025 begins by paying lip service to the intrinsic value of culture, but everything that follows (everything of substance that is) makes apparent that culture is valued insofar as it produces some other effect; social, economic or promotional. Culture here is a product that can be consumed or a celebratory force of national and regional affirmation doubling as a marketing strategy. In the section on ‘Fostering Creativity’, one stated priority reads: “Support and promote ambition, risk, innovation and excellence for those creating cultural content”.3 That seemingly innocuous phrase, ‘cultural content’, is worth exploring. Content means something to be placed in a container; ‘cultural content’ here expresses an idea of culture as pre-formed material to be placed in a self-contained, pre-existing receptacle. Those who create ‘cultural content’ are therefore akin to workers on an assembly line; they produce elements, pieces, packages, but their relationship to the institutional system of culture is subservient. Art and culture in this paradigm are contained, one might even say tamed. A growing reliance on this kind of nebulous language is having an impact in the area of public art commissioning. While numerous open calls have recently been pitched as “experimental”, “risk-taking” or “process-based” initiatives, the selection criteria seem to be articulated through an indeterminate language, with artists expected to submit extensive speculative research proposals, including details of methodologies, budget and potential outcomes. Artists can be left to pay the price when vaguely formulated briefs, with contrary requirements, result in confused or inconclusive submissions. The principle of individual feedback and clarity around selection criteria is not always adhered to, even by public bodies.
“Abuse of power comes as no surprise” – Jenny Holzer, ‘Truisms’ series (1982)
One recent commission cited Ground Up (2003–08), a public art programme that I devised, although the two are very different. Ground Up was developed through extensive and meaningful consultation with artists on the ground. Participating artists were paid from the outset to engage in an open-ended, collective research process, out of which proposals for temporary public artworks emerged. By investing in their development, the programme recognised artists as partners, engaging in actual, as opposed to rhetorical, risk-taking. The problematic of consultation, transparency and accountability in the arts exists in a wider context which has led to the formation of an action group, ‘Artists for Consultation and Transparency’ (ACT), posing the question ‘Has the artist been consulted?’ The role of artists as cultural citizens, with a sound grasp of the politics and nuances of public culture, is being increasingly overlooked. Disproportionate power is concentrated in the hands of cultural gatekeepers who are embedded in a hierarchical and bureaucratic system oriented towards instrumentalised and consumerist models of culture. Rather than being recognised as equal partners in the construction of public culture, artists are more likely to be categorised as cultural entrepreneurs, or as individualised subjects of institutional patronage. The cultural producers and managers who understand the difference tend to operate outside of that system. If Culture 2025 is anything to go by, the shaping of public culture by bureaucrats and policy-makers generates a simulacrum of culture, devoid of the awkward and contrary perspectives upon which the open-ended and vital force of culture depends. Perhaps what public cultural policy needs is a cultural citizen’s assembly, something independent of institutions which can meaningfully incorporate unorthodox voices, contrary voices and all the other voices that don’t conform to pre-programmed ideas and conclusions.
Fiona Woods is a visual artist and PhD candidate at DIT, who lectures in Limerick School of Art & Design and the National College of Art & Design. Notes
Raymond Williams (1983) Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society, New York: Oxford University Press, p. 87. 2 Culture 2025: A Framework Policy Document for Arts, 2016, Dublin: Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, p. 9. 3 Ibid. p. 20. 1
HOLZER’S FAMOUS TRUISM has become the approved motto of the international online forum, not-surprised.org, who declare: “We are artists, arts administrators, assistants, curators, directors, editors, educators, gallerists, interns, scholars, students, writers, and more – workers of the art world – and we have been groped, undermined, harassed, infantilised, scorned, threatened and intimidated by those in positions of power who control access to resources and opportunities. We have held our tongues, threatened by power wielded over us and promises of institutional access and career advancement.” Tens of thousands signed their open letter pledging to fight against sexual harassment in the art world (including artists such as Laurie Anderson, Cindy Sherman and Tania Bruguera), before it was closed on 29 October, to prepare for future activist actions. This all happened in response to a series of claims of sexual harassment made against Artforum publisher Knight Landesman, who resigned soon after editor-in-chief Michelle Kuo departed her job of seven years, citing the allegations against Landesman as her chief motivation. Kuo wrote: “We need to make the art world a more equitable, just, and safe place for women at all levels.” Following the Harvey Weinstein scandal (and the many others that followed), there has been a ripple-effect across the western world, exposing the reality of sexual harassment and its consequences. This accelerating campaign has been notably waged in the arts, where ideals of equality and social justice are optimistically upheld and celebrated. Arguably, the abuse of power is unsurprising in politics, sport or corporate business, where power is a form of currency and a modus operandi. However, within the creative industries, egalitarian, libertarian and progressive social attitudes prevail… or do they? Just two years since the paradigm-shifting ‘Waking the Feminists’, the campaign has responded to alleged gender-based exploitation within the theatre community by publishing a ‘Harassment Toolkit’, as part of the umbrella group Amplify Women. This free and downloadable practical guide offers advice to employees of any gender who are dealing with harassment and bullying in the workplace, stating: “One of the main themes of these recent revelations is widespread abuse of power and position, across many different sectors. Many of the individuals speaking about their experiences felt disempowered and, in some cases, frightened to take steps to report the issues they were experiencing. We want this Toolkit to show people that they are supported”. Thankfully, in the Irish visual art sector we have (so far) been free from such accusations. Perhaps one reason is that Irish art centres and galleries appoint more women directors than elsewhere in
Europe. However, our sector is not impervious to the culture that enables this type of harassment and discrimination. The notoriously unregulated international art industry is a business that is dominated by the rich and powerful. Here in Ireland, things function a little differently, due to an underdeveloped art market. The majority of support for visual art comes from the public sector, which is regulated and transparent in much of its workings. Unlike theatre, we do not have an historical chauvinism stemming from the days before suffrage. However, entrenched cultural inequalities can be observed in the typically low representation of women artists (as well as artists from minority groups) in our museums and national collections. One Irish arena where sexual misconduct and harassment did exist was in third level education. It was commonplace during my student years – as an undergraduate in the 1980s and again during the late 1990s as a postgraduate – that male tutors would have sexual relationships with female students. A new climate generally exists in Ireland these days. However, commenting on current sexual predation in US colleges, artist and academic Coco Fusco writes: “There is a respectful distance that is essential to maintaining a pedagogical culture of fairness and ethical treatment of students, over whom we as teachers wield power. It pains me to know that I work in a milieu in which many of my peers try to find ways around that.” However, analysing issues solely in gender terms can sometimes impede awareness-raising across other associated topics – a discrepancy highlighted by the four female finalists of the preeminent German art prize Preis der Nationalgalerie (hosted by the Hamburger Bahnof ). The artists pointed out the fact that the award comes with no fee, yet reported being “troubled by the constant emphasis, in press releases and public speeches, on our gender and nationalities, rather than on the content of our work”. In my view, a commitment to diversity (in gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and so on) should be built into the everyday operations of institutions. It is nonetheless important to emphasise that the prevailing debates over sexual harassment in the arts help progress more enlightened attitudes towards how we work together comfortably, justly and safely in a diverse and pluralist profession.
Áine Phillips is a visual artist, writer, curator and academic living in County Clare.
Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
Northern Ireland
Catalyst Arts: Greater Than the Sum of its Parts Joey O'Gorman HAVING JUST COMPLETED HIS TERM AS CO-DIRECTOR OF CATALYST ARTS, BELFAST, JOEY O'GORMAN SHARES HIS EXPERIENCES.
BETWEEN 2015 AND 2017, I spent an intense and gratifying period as co-director of the artist-led gallery Catalyst Arts in Belfast. The directorship is a unique opportunity for emerging artists to consider their relationship with galleries, as well as the more esoteric aspects of the wider arts ecology, in tangible ways. The organisation’s disruptive model – based on a continually changing board of directors and a flat hierarchy – displaces normative renderings of what an institution should be. It opens up a space for more plural discourses, beyond those generally sanctioned by authority or seniority. The gallery has strong roots within an ever-growing, international network of friends and colleagues and it is treated with great affection by its funders, members and audiences. When I first moved to Northern Ireland, I volunteered at Catalyst and experienced first-hand the great spirit of camaraderie within Belfast’s art scene. Shortly after the directorship was advertised, I was appointed and was chuffed to take on Catalyst’s mission to support artists and the arts in the region. Because as much as possible is done inhouse at Catalyst, there’s a great deal to learn from day one. Existing directors pass on their knowledge and experience of the organisation’s ethos and procedures and there is extensive training by external organisations. There is also an ongoing process of continuous strategic review under the guidance of various advisors. In my first year, I shadowed other directors to learn about the logistics of delivering different types of projects, before taking on the responsibilities of programming in my second year. During my time as co-director there were: five shows by students or recent graduates; two members’ shows; two new commissions; two residencies; seven outreach events; an offsite project; a research trip to America; performances at the Venice Biennale; nine small gallery shows; five large gallery shows; and two ‘Fix’ biennials (Europe’s oldest live art biennale, established by Catalyst Arts in 1994). Several more talks and events accompanied different exhibitions and we hosted many more events for members, artists, venue hires and community groups. Like most artist-led organisations, Catalyst is its own beast. Fundamentally it has the same constitutional structure as Transmission in Glasgow, from whom the first board originally sought advice when formulating the constitution and becoming a legal entity. However, the two galleries exist in distinct contexts and have evolved in different ways over the decades. Catalyst comprises a committee of voluntarily co-directors who have equal authority and serve for a period of no longer than two years. The directors are trustees and managers and, therefore, ultimately have full responsibility for both strategy and delivery. This structure means that everyone understands and contributes to both Catalyst’s aims and the practicalities of achieving them.
This is something that is comparatively rare among more conventional organisations, meaning that the committee is extremely invested in the organisation and its programme. The variety of responsibilities taken on by directors is about as diverse as one could imagine, ranging from financial oversight and strategic planning to grant writing and bookkeeping. Individual directors are placed into subcommittees which perform specific roles but as a project manager you contribute to all manner of activities including: fundraising, budgeting, research, archiving, designing, chairing, publicity, outreach, evaluation, installation, invigilation and so on. Much of my learning occurred through the practice of project delivery, for example, solving technical problems during install or working with artists to achieve their aims with the means available. Advocacy work is also an important part of the role, which includes speaking to visitors, delivering seminars to students and representing the gallery at a range of public events and private forums. Catalyst has resisted ossifying into a more “mature” organisation that is primarily associated with its own ‘halcyon days’. Instead, by trusting each new generation of artists, it evolves in tandem with art world developments. In this way, the organisation’s relevance is maintained, allowing it to serve the arts community in unpredictable and meaningful ways. For the scale of its funding, Catalyst has a disproportionately large impact – through the opportunities it offers artists and the skills directors contribute to the sector. As the funding landscape worsens under neoliberal pressures, artist-led spaces like Catalyst are increasingly required to do more for less, which can make the future seem daunting. However, Catalyst’s critical and collective approach, as well as the breadth of support it receives, makes it nimble and responsive, giving it the resilience to adapt to change and continue to produce interesting and relevant outcomes against the odds. This year the organisation marks its 25th anniversary, which I’m sure will be celebrated with an immense programme, so drop in if you’re in town.
Joey O’Gorman is an artist and former co-director of Catalyst Arts. He is currently studying an MFA in Fine Art at Ulster University.
Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
Regional Focus Armagh, Banbridge, Craigavon
Collective Ambition Paul King Visual Artist and co-founder of SHORE Collective
Art Market
techniques and expertise in the gallery space with schools, arts organisations and the general public, through a series of talks, gallery tours and workshops, which animate the work on show and enChristine Donnelly courage open participation. Concluding our 2017 gallery programme, paintCreative Development Officer at Armagher Rayleen Clancy presents her current exhibition, Market Place Theatre and Arts Centre ‘The Fall of Innocence’, which challenges our thoughts on human desire for happiness in a tempestuous world. Meanwhile, the Belfast-based illustration agency UsFolk is exhibiting a collection of contemporary work by Irish and international illustrators in the foyer of the gallery. Both of these exhibitions run until 20 January 2018. Looking forward to spring next year, the gallery will launch a new programme, which includes an exciting line-up of photographic exhibitions. The first of these will be ‘The Citizens Wallpaper’ project by photojournalist Martin Nangle. This project engages communities in a visual representation of their traditions and cultures to produce an ever-expanding dialogue, while reflecting diversity in a positive and respectful way. ‘The Citizens Wallpaper’ commenced in 2012 and will conclude in 2021. On completion, the illustrated narrative will comprise a 65-metre-long canvas reflecting on contemporary culture, tradition, citizenship and identity from the Atlantic Ocean to the Irish Sea. A second project by Nangle called ‘Divided Cities’ will be exhibited in the Foyer Gallery, exploring city life as being fragmented through segregation or security barriers. The projMartin Nangle, image from the 'Citizens Wallpaper' project ect commences in Belfast in 1973 and continues to the present, contrasting the experiences in Jerusalem (1990– THE MARKET PLACE GALLERY at the Market 91), Nicosia (2015–16) and Berlin (in 1989, at the Place Theatre and Arts Centre is a driving force fall of the wall). It documents everyday lives after within the area’s ever-increasing arts infrastructure. ruptures in the social fabric, and investigates how The gallery forms the central hub for the delivery ordinary people positively transform their enviof a thriving annual arts programme at the heart ronment under exceptional circumstances. Nangle of the historic city of Armagh. To capitalise on the exhibits in the gallery from 2 February – 2 March rich cultural diversity happening across the region, 2018. the Market Place Theatre and Arts Centre opened International photographer Kim Haughton will in March 2000. The venue is operated and funded present her solo exhibition, ‘Portrait of A Century’, by Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Bor- from 12 March to 5 May. This show will be a visuough Council and is well-placed within the city to al time capsule, made up of people who are united serve the whole community. through a shared language, culture and nationhood. The building has a unique design and was nom- Each image in the series represents the birth year inated for the Stirling Prize for Architecture. The of the sitter, collectively spanning a hundred-year venue comprises a 400-seat auditorium, a 120-seat time-period from 1916 to 2015. Next year will also flexible workspace and meeting rooms. We serve see the return of the annual ‘Art and Craft’ exhibithe local artistic community as well as audiences, tion (18 May – 14 July), which will feature work artists and performers from further afield. We fea- by guest artist and ceramist Caroline Getty. Getty ture an ever-changing programme of arts and crafts combines ceramics with soft materials, such as paworkshops for all ages, alongside a range of artistic per and fabric, to create unique, three-dimensional and cultural events, including successful partner- sculptural forms. Partnering with Northern Ireships with the John Hewitt International Sum- land’s first Linen Biennale, Getty’s new works will mer School, William Kennedy International Piping incorporate raw and worked linen within the ceFestival, as well as Armagh’s Georgian Festival and ramic form, symbolising Northern Ireland’s strong Home of St Patrick Festival. cultural ties to the linen industry. Using cool tones, The venue forms the central hub for the deliv- Getty’s objects feel cold and fraught, as if depicting ery of a thriving, multidisciplinary exhibition pro- past memories, with stronger colours representing gramme across the foyer and two exceptional gal- clarity and a more positive future outlook. lery spaces. Both national and international artists For further information on exhibitions, preview have exhibited at the gallery over the past 17 years, openings, arts workshops and events visit our webincluding: Armagh’s renowned painter J.B. Vallely; site or contact the box office. international sculptor Kevin Francis Gray; painter Brian Ballard; mixed-media artist Rita Duffy; and marketplacearmagh.com the illustrious potter Jack Doherty – to name a few. We encourage artists to share their inspirations,
SHORE COLLECTIVE – formerly known as North Armagh Artists Collective (NAAC) – was originally founded by artists Julie McGowan, Jonny McKerr and myself in 2010. The name-change happened in November 2017. We formed the artist-led initiative because we knew of talented artists living and working in the local area. Currently there are 14 professional artists in SHORE Collective, with five artists-in-residence in our studio spaces. Most of our artists are from Lurgan while others are from Craigavon, Banbridge, Portadown and Belfast. There was no studio provision for artists in the Armagh area at the time, so we created our own. We received funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland in 2011 under their ‘Start-Up’ programme and we presently keep our collective going through annual membership fees. We are now in our third premises. Our last studio space was a three-year residence at Oxford Island Nature Reserve in Lurgan, at the southerly shore of Lough Neagh. During this time, we were interviewed by Anne Marie McAleese for her programme ‘Your Place and Mine’ on BBC Radio Ulster after she saw our work. When our residency at Oxford Island Nature Reserve ended, we searched the Armagh area to find a suitable and affordable new space. We checked out several buildings until we finally heard about Mount Zion House – a former convent dating from 1865. The managers of the building were very keen for us to move in and have been extremely helpful. We relocated to Mount Zion House in October 2017 and several other community organisations now work in the building. We currently have four large, shared studio spaces, a common room and a kitchen. Not everyone within the group needs or wants a permanent studio space, so our common room functions as a workspace for short-term projects when necessary. We also have a very long corridor space leading to our studio, which we have turned into a walkway gallery. Like many artist collectives, we experience a lack of funding, studio space and access to equipment. We are a diverse group of multi-disciplinary artists working across a range of mediums in the collective, including: textiles, painting, drawing, ceramics, installation, conceptual art, performance, audio, photography and moving image. SHORE Collective offers artists at all stages of their career the opportunity to develop their individual practices, engage with a wider audience and showcase their work as a strong, creative collective, both locally and internationally. One of our membership conditions
is that artists organise at least one exhibition per year, which all of our members can take part in. To date, we have exhibited in a range of galleries and arts centres such as: Millennium Court Arts Centre, Portadown; The Market Place Theatre and Arts Centre, Armagh; The Waterfront, Belfast; Flowerfield Arts Centre, Portstewart; Ards Arts Centre, Newtownards; Down Arts Centre, Downpatrick; and Ranfurly Arts Centre, Dungannon. With support from the collective, each member works on their own professional development. Three of our members – Kathryn Nelson, Sandra Turley and Julie McGowan – were recently selected to exhibit in the International Paper and Fibre Biennial in Taiwan in 2017. They received financial assistance by ACNI to attend the event. As an artist-led initiative, SHORE Collective works closely with local groups to deliver a diverse community arts programme. These arts workshops are delivered either from our studio in Mount Zion House, or in the context of local clubs, community centres, schools, residential homes, businesses, council-run programmes, festivals, events, pop-up initiatives or galleries. As a highly experienced team of professional artists with a wealth of facilitation experience, we work with participants to help increase their skills and confidence, using art as a learning tool. We deliver workshops for children, young people and adults of all ages, with different backgrounds and abilities, across a wide range of traditional and modern art forms such as: drawing, painting, illustration, collage, animation, digital art, shadow puppetry, crafts, prop-making, ceramics, textiles and printmaking. Some workshops are paid and some we do for free, depending on the situation. Some of the money we make from the sale of artworks goes towards the collective’s running costs. As a large artist collective based outside Northern Ireland’s major cities, our main ambition is to secure regular ACNI funding that will sustain us into the future. We have been running for seven years and have no plans to stop any time soon. We would also like to be able to work on larger projects, relating both to our individual practices, and to our local community arts projects. shorecollectiveni.com
SHORE Collective; L–R: Ann Feely, Carol Coney, Dwyer McKerr, Sandra Turley, Dermot Burns, Ciara Campbell, Kathryn Nelson, Paul King. Not pictured: Julie McGowan, Wendy Roberts, Ciaran Maginnis, Carol Willey, Chris Dummigan, Joanna Breen
Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
Regional Focus
13
Sculpting a Place
Traces, Spaces
Dr Riann Coulter
Joanne Proctor
Curator/Manager at F.E. McWilliam Gallery in Banbridge
Visual Artist based in the Banbridge area
and support the gallery’s engagement with schools. We recently participated in the Northern Ireland Museums Council ‘Playful Museums’ programme which focuses on children aged 0–5 years. Over the last nine years, the gallery has established partnerships with numerous institutions including: National Gallery of Ireland, Royal Hibernian Academy, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Crawford Art Gallery and Arts Council England. Our most enduring partnership is with the Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda. Both institutions were funded through the East Border Region EU INTERREG Funding and we have since collaborated on numerous exhibitions and projects. In 2016, the F.E. McWilliam Gallery received a substantial grant F.E. McWilliam, Legs Static, bronze, 1978, 100 x 110 x 80cm; collection, F.E. from the joint Arts Council Ireland and Arts Council Northern Ireland McWilliam Gallery touring scheme for Susan MacWilHISTORICALLY, BANBRIDGE has been better liam’s survey exhibition ‘Modern Experiments’. known for linen and agriculture than art. Although The exhibition toured from Banbridge to Highthere have always been artists and craft workers liv- lanes, before travelling to West Cork Arts Cening in the area, there was little infrastructure and tre and finishing at the Butler Gallery. A major no focus for the arts community. All that began to publication on Susan’s work is being produced in change in 2008, when the F.E. McWilliam Gallery conjunction with the touring show. In April 2015, as part of local government reand Studio opened its doors. Since then, the gallery has welcomed between 40,000 and 50,000 visitors forms, Banbridge District Council was replaced by each year and has become highly regarded for its Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon (ACBC) Borough Council. Recognising the success of the exhibition programme. Conveniently situated just off the main Belfast gallery as a visitor attraction and the need for to Dublin road, the F.E. McWilliam Gallery is an greater space to fulfil its potential, the council accredited museum that celebrates the work of the is proceeding with a major capital development sculptor Frederick Edward McWilliam, who was at the F.E. McWilliam. Plans include a new cliborn in Banbridge on 30 April 1909. A friend and mate-controlled gallery for the permanent colcontemporary of Henry Moore, McWilliam made lection of McWilliam’s work. This will enable his name in London and established a reputation artwork which is currently in storage to be put on as one of the most important sculptors of his gen- permanent display, improve the long-term care of eration. Initially working in a Surrealist mode, McWilliam’s master models and maquettes and McWilliam went on to explore his own interests enable improved interpretation and engagement. and is best known in Ireland for the dramatic The new gallery space will also free up the cur‘Women of Belfast’ series, inspired by the Aber- rent studio building for artists-in-residence. A new education and community space will meet corn Tea Room Bombings in 1972. Following McWilliam’s death on 13 May 1992, the demand from schools and enable an expanded his estate gifted the contents of his studio – orig- education and workshop programme. Improved inally situated in Holland Park, London – and a visitor facilities, more retail space and increased number of sculptures to Banbridge District Coun- staff accommodation will also be included. In October 2017, the audience development cil. After several years of research, a suitable site was identified, and funding was secured to com- business Thrive commenced work on an Arts, mence work on a new building. Designed by Culture and Heritage Framework for the borough. Belfast-based architects Kennedy Fitzgerald and The framework will set the long-term vision for Associates, the gallery features: a permanent dis- the borough’s arts and cultural provision and will play of McWilliam’s work, a replica of his studio, outline the council’s key priorities for the next an attractive sculpture garden, a large temporary five years. Public consultations are currently unexhibition space, a craft shop, café and Banbridge derway and Thrive is working closely with council staff and stakeholders to develop a framework Visitor Information Point. The exhibition programme includes four large that will be deliverable, integrated, sustainable, exhibitions per year in the gallery and one sum- audience-focused and relevant to the borough’s mer show in the sculpture garden. To date, the diverse population. It is anticipated that the focus has been on Irish and British art and has in- framework will be presented to council in Februcluded major exhibitions featuring: William Scott, ary 2018. Looking back over the F.E. McWilliam’s Deborah Brown, Basil Blackshaw, Rita Duffy, Da- first decade, it is remarkable how much has been vid Crone, Janet Mullarney, Victor Sloan, Susan achieved. Going forward, we hope that, with supMacWilliam, Tony Hill, Eddie Rafferty and Mar- port from the council and the community, we can garet Clarke. Local artists and art groups, includ- continue to bring great art to Banbridge that is acing Banbridge Art Club and Banbridge Camera cessible for all. Club, have also had the opportunity to exhibit in the gallery and we have worked with local schools, femcwilliam.com NCAD, and Kids Own to exhibit work by young people and students. Community support for the gallery is strong and the Friends of the F.E. McWilliam Gallery are a dynamic group who organise cultural events
GEOGRAPHICALLY LOCATED on the main Bel- organised by PSN in 2014 my work was shown in fast to Dublin route, Banbridge is a thriving town England and Taiwan. with direct access to the two capital cities on the The concept of time is an inherent part of my island of Ireland. As an artist living and working working methods, echoed in my use of laborious within the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon techniques. My work demonstrates a curiosity about Borough, I feel there are a number of vital and dy- life’s systems, cycles and transitions, reflecting on namic institutions to connect with. These include: the world around and within. Strands of my pracThe Market Place Theatre and Arts Centre, Ar- tice often encompass anatomical influences. I utilise magh; F.E. McWilliam Gallery & Studio in Ban- needles as drawing tools and hand embroider paper bridge; and the Millennium Court Arts Centre in supports using my hair as a biomaterial. The use of Portadown. I have previously had the opportunity my own hair also conjures associations with genetics to exhibit in the latter two galleries. ‘Home Grown’ and heritage. I collect the hair that falls away natu(10 December 2011 – 11 February 2012) at the F.E. rally, as I brush or wash it. There is the suggestion of McWilliam Gallery showcased the work of artists shedding, leaving traces and the act of preservation associated with the Banbridge District and helped in using an element that is now detached from me, me to connect with other local artists. During the but is somehow still a part of me. Some people find exhibition I created a large performative drawing this detachment of bio-matter disconcerting; perwithin the main gallery space and I also displayed haps it is a reminder of life’s ephemeral nature. Route-to-Root – a map of my birthplace, intricately hand-stitched with strands of my own hair. More recently, I was invited to participate in a group exhibition ‘Bristle: Hair and Hegemony’ (8 July – 23 September 2017) at the Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, (which has a cross-border partnership with the F.E. McWilliam Gallery). The exhibition drew on the use of hair within historical and contemporary art, from a diverse range of ethnic, cultural, scientific, political, literary and aesthetic contexts. My practice explores the expanded field of contemporary drawing, using a range of materials and methods I create myriads of small intricate marks, for example, ink on paper and piercing processes. I use a stippling technique and with a very fine pigment ink pen I repetitively ‘dot’ hundreds of thousands of tiny marks, in building up the structure of an image. More unconventional techniques materialised during my undergraduate studies when I began to explore the use of my own hair. I graduated from Ulster University, Belfast School of Art, with a BA in Fine and Applied Art in 2008. The abrupt end to uni- Joanne Proctor, Route-to-Root, 2011, ink dots and hand-stitched human versity was challenging. Being out of hair on paper, 57 x 77cm the city and back home all of a sudden, there was no access to facilities, workspace, I am also fascinated by automatic bodily promaterials, or budget and no other artists around. cesses such a breathing – one of the most basic facOver time, I began networking and exchanging ets of our existence, yet perhaps the most crucial ideas in order to create opportunities for collabora- and taken for granted. Using a microscope enables tive projects. As a result, I have initiated and been me to observe selected items first hand at a magniinvited to participate in numerous ventures over the fied level. Recently I have been working on a series years, which have proven very fruitful. of ink-dot drawings based on observations of my In November 2016, I was delighted to receive blood under the microscope. Using a play on words, an Artist Career Enhancement Scheme (ACES) the title 'Lining' relates to the drawn line and to award from the Arts Council of Northern Ire- the lining of the womb (as the blood is from the land, who have been instrumental in supporting endometrium, which, in itself, can symbolise the the development of my practice over the past potential of new life, growth and change). Notions few years. As part of my ACES award, I made a of an ‘ancestry line’ also seem quite fitting. number of trips to Newcastle upon Tyne to visit the Paper Studio Northumbria (PSN). PSN is a joanneproctorartist.wordpress.com unique facility situated in the grounds of Northumbria University, dedicated to the research, teaching and scholarship of paper, encompassing fine art, conservation and archiving, as well as the practice of papermaking. These research trips helped to deepen my understanding of paper as both subject and support, in relation to my experimentation with contemporary drawing, materials and conceptual research. I have embraced opportunities to exhibit both nationally and internationally and as part of a touring group show
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Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
Regional Focus
Enthisiatic Commissioning
The Craigavon Project
Johnny Cordner
Emma Drury
Exhibitions Officer at Millennium Court Arts Centre in Portadown
Arts Development Officer for Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council
LOCATED IN THE CENTRE of Portadown, County Armagh, Millennium Court Arts Centre (MCAC) is a large, contemporary visual arts space, which was established on the mezzanine level of the refurbished Municipal Central Market in 2001. The centre comprises two large gallery spaces, one of which is naturally lit and one in which the light and sound can be fully controlled. These spaces are supported by a multi-purpose conference room, an art room for classes and workshops and a studio space with adjoining kiln, which provides a studio space for an artist-in-residence (from 3 months to a year) working in craft or visual art. As a commissioning venue, MCAC is committed to working with artists and curators at all stages of their careers. One of our main priorities is to support the creation of ambitious work that will enhance artists’ career development, as well as contributing to professional practice across the visual arts. We support this process through a programme of innovative local, national and international arts events. Such events include performances, exhibitions, conferences and wider conversations, as well as an education programme, which supports the exhibitions programme. We work to build collaborative partnerships with artists, curators and other venues and have a policy of working to co-commission and tour as many of our projects as possible. Previous projects have travelled to and from Japan, Korea and New York, as well as within Ireland and across Europe. MCAC has been one of the flagship venues for the Artist Career Enhancement Scheme (ACES) run by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland (ACNI). The programme has offered significant support to emerging artists at a critical stage in their professional careers, providing them with the means to develop their skills and new bodies of work. ACES artists we have worked with over the past few years have included: Emma Donaldson, Michael Hanna, Jiann Hughes, Ian Cumberland, Jacqueline Wylie and, presently, Robin Price.
This year, we undertook an exhibition by Alistair Wilson, which was accompanied by a catalogue, produced in partnership with the Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast. Other recent exhibitions include ‘Ceramics and Its Dimensions’, a European Partnership initiative, looking at the impact and possibilities regarding future ceramics production, which is currently on tour and will travel to seven European venues. Glass artist Alison Lowry’s significant and provocative exhibition, ‘(A) Dress’, examined various experiences women often face, such as domestic violence. Another artwork, containing images of celebrity ‘selfies’, examined the self-representation of high-profile women in the media. Gallery 2 contained a haunting installation comprising pâte de verre christening robes and baptismal certificates, referencing the findings at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, Co. Galway. This part of the exhibition focused on representing and giving memory to those who are voiceless. Miguel Martin’s current exhibition of new work, ‘Let the Dead Leaves Fall’, draws on minimalism to examines the emerging, societal obsession for contemporary mindfulness and occultism. The title of the exhibition comes from a quote by thirteenth-century mystic, Rumi, who said: “be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop”. It is this idea of letting go, and thereby submitting to higher consciousness in a transcendental state, that forms the basis for the exhibition. The exhibition includes installation, film and sculptural pieces and runs until the 24 January. Sinead McKeever’s forthcoming exhibition ‘Antenna’ opens on the 2 Feburary and continues to the 28 March. In her work she exploits the possibilities of found industrial and domestic materials, examining the balance between materiality, form and decorative surfaces. McKeever's new work inhabits and investigates boundaries, edges and awkward spaces, her sculptural objects are often found in corners or unexpected places such as ceilings or windows. The play of light and shadow are important to the artist, her pieces creating strips of light through shadow and reflection. Often edged with colour, these playful bands promote investigation of spatial occupation and application, creating presence. Our ongoing and successful education and outreach programme aims to support the exhibitions programme. Work has been carried out with diverse communities and local groups across the Borough of Armagh, Banbridge, Craigavon and beyond. We cater for children, teenagers, adults and older people in equal measure with different programmes, which include specially tailored events, film clubs, classes, gallery tours and outreach projects that take our programmes outside the gallery, with nursery, school and youth club visits, as well as visits to older people’s homes. Provision at MCAC is characterised by quality programming and an ambition to deliver accessible, inclusive and high-quality arts experiences. We fund these activities through an annual grant from Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Council and we are the only ACNI funded gallery in South Ulster. millenniumcourt.org
Alison Lowry, A New Skin, 2017; photograph by Glenn Norwood.
Armagh Men’s Shed at work in Moneypenny’s Forge; photograph by Bradley Henderson
CRAIGAVON IS A PLACE with a unique story, but it’s also a construct; a conundrum. The ‘new town’ of Craigavon emerged in the late sixties filling in a swathe of agricultural land between the market towns of Lurgan and Portadown. Modelled on the likes of Cumbernauld and Milton Keynes in the UK, it was a pioneering, visionary project – it promised prosperity, the ideal place to live and work, and cutting-edge technology in buildings, transport and planning. The Borough Council took the name and undoubtedly existed as an entity; however, speak to people who live here, and you’ll find they are stubbornly from Brownlow, Portadown, Lurgan, or one of the many outlying villages or townlands. Northern Ireland’s conflict pressed pause on the Craigavon project. Anchor industries relocated, and a lingering depression saw the new city flounder. But 50 years on, some of the ambitions at the heart of the project look like they will finally be realised. Culturally and creatively the place is at odds with common perceptions. There’s a vibrant creativity at work here, with hidden gems offering unexpectedly dynamic arts programmes. The Millennium Court Arts Centre (MCAC) has brought new associations to Portadown. Offering contemporary arts programming in a redeveloped market building, MCAC does not shy away from challenging subjects or cutting-edge artistic practice. The modest frontage belies what’s inside and the arts centre has put Portadown on the map for something other than marches and conflict. Craigavon is a place that thrives on partnerships. An unbreakable community spirit has risen out of hardship, breeding tenacity and inspiring local action that is echoed in our arts service. Meeting needs and making things happen drives arts development in the area. We connect people with artists – usually those whose practices are socially-engaged – allowing local communities to learn what makes artists tick and by doing so, opening up creativity and unlocking ideas. Our role is a facilitative one – producing, translating and bringing expertise – so that projects can meet perceived needs without letting language or lacking resources impinge on these activities. ‘Capturing Craigavon’ is a project built on this model. A small group of Brownlow residents wanted to find ways of sharing their lived experience. They had something to say about recent social history but also wanted to document the experiences of those integral to the new town project in the hope that the lessons learned could be of use in the future. We talked about what we wanted to achieve,
secured some funding for a pilot project and welcomed PLACE, Belfast, into our partnership. As we worked together, the project found its feet and a significant body of creative work was amassed, encompassing filmmaking, photography and oral history. A publication and an archive were developed to preserve old stories and to share them with people living in Craigavon, which can be found at: capturingcraigavon.com. Another strand of our work is to make space for the visual arts in public places that local people use, allowing creativity to be part of their experience. So far, we have established two permanent spaces where artists can work and share their practice. Artspace is an artist’s studio on Oxford Island Nature Reserve where we host a residency programme for individual artists in the winter. In spring and summer, a residency is offered to an arts organisation wishing to deliver engagement programmes. Our current residents are visual artist Julie Griffiths and writer and composer Reggie Chamberlain-Smith. Both are developing a new body of work in response to the landscapes and people of the southern shores of Lough Neagh. Artspace is also hosting artist Robin Price, who is devising an exciting new semi-permanent sound installation on the nature reserve. Price is a 2016–17 recipient of the Artists Career Enhancement Scheme (ACES), offered annually by the Arts Council Northern Ireland. Elsewhere, Moneypenny’s Forge is a space where traditional blacksmithing skills are preserved and explored in a contemporary context. The forge is situated in the stables of the Lockhouse, an idyllic setting on the Newry Canal outside Portadown. Heritage Lottery funding has helped to develop the project, which started out as a pilot in 2009. Over the coming months, we will be engaging with resident blacksmiths and launching programmes to attract new participants, so they can learn traditional skills and find out more about the origins of the craft and its local significance. Looking ahead to 2018, we are introducing ambitious approaches for connecting artists with venues and communities across the wider Borough, as we start to deliver our Community Plan. This will not only provide work for visual artists, but will help us to elevate the profile of artists from Northern Ireland. artsdevelopment.org
Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
How is it Made?
In Support of Black Mountain MANUELA PACELLA INTERVIEWS ANDREAS KINDLER VON KNOBLOCH ABOUT HIS PROJECT, ‘WE BUILD A FRAMEWORK’, DEVELOPED FOR CATALYST ARTS, BELFAST.
Manuela Pacella: We could say that your relationship with Catalyst Arts started in 2009, when you cofounded Exchange Dublin in Temple Bar using a similar artist-led model. Can you discuss how your relationship with Catalyst Arts has developed over the years, with reference to your participation in collaborative projects? Andreas Kindler von Knobloch: Exchange Dublin was my first direct experience of alternative institutional models used within non-hierarchical arts organisations like Catalyst Arts. Exchange Dublin was founded in June 2009, primarily as a result of the ‘Change?’ project that Dylan Haskins, Jonah King and myself ran in January 2009, together with other members of the OPW Artist Collective at Project Arts Centre. At the time, Dublin was coming down from the Celtic Tiger high that had commercialised the city and left it almost devoid of artist-run initiatives. The intention behind Exchange Dublin was to create an open, public space, that could facilitate people of all ages to meet and collaborate together, with the potential to hold exhibitions, gigs, workshops and events. Fashioned as an arts centre, but attempting to escape any sort of institutional model, Exchange Dublin had a very particular organisational structure. Inspired, in part, by the volunteer model used by Catalyst Arts, Exchange Dublin was run by an open and constantly changing group of volunteers and members of the public. It was during this time that I became fascinated with the inner-workings of non-hierarchical organisations. Since then, some of my friends became co-directors of Catalyst, while others exhibited or installed works there. MP: You recently developed the project ‘We Build a Framework’ for ‘Black Mountain’ – the last exhibition of the Catalyst Arts 2017 programme. Can you explain the impetus behind this project and how it developed over time? AKVK: ‘We Build a Framework’ is a project that has been developing in the back of my mind for a long time, possibly since the foundation of Exchange Dublin. Back then, we often talked about how we wanted the structure of Exchange to be an open container – a space with a radically open organisational structure that would facilitate people to come together and create new things. For ‘Black Mountain’, I wanted to make a work that functioned in a similar way. This structure could have taken a more utopian form, such as a geodesic dome – the famous creation of Buckminster Fuller, which was first developed during his time teaching at Black Mountain College. These domes are super-strong structures that disperse their weight equally through all the supporting members. Even though the dome is a good metaphor for the kind of organisational structures I am interested in, I chose to go with a simpler, rearrangeable, square framework that could work with other, pre-existing forms, or become a module of some larger structure in the future. The final form came from a drawing by my friend, Will Moss, who I met in Portland, Oregon, while studying for an MA in Applied Craft and Design. When I decided to move back to Ireland, I asked Will if he would like to design a tattoo for me. His drawing depicts four people wearing blue outfits building a Sol Lewitt-style cube in the desert. I later decided to use the drawing as the basis of my project at Catalyst. As the idea developed, the outfits became less important and the work became more focused on the assembling of the structure. Even though the steel framework is the primary work, there is a second complementary element – a small, DIY wood-burning stove made from a gas canister, which is installed near the reading materials. The stove creates a hearth and generates much-needed warmth in the gallery at this time of year. It is also creates a more passive social space that complements the action of assembling the steel framework. MP: In ‘We Build a Framework’, you make interesting parallels between the Catalyst constitution and systems of architectural support. Can you explain the thought process behind this approach? AKVK: From working in Exchange Dublin, I developed an interest in creating frameworks for working together – organisational structures that are as open as possible to allow engagement
Andreas Kindler von Knobloch, We Build a Framework (2017), installation view, Catalyst Arts, Belfast; photograph by Jordan Hutchings
with a minimal yet supportive core structure. The Catalyst Arts model has operated for almost 25 years. Catalyst is managed by five to ten co-directors, each serving a two-year term. The terms are staggered, so there is never a completely new directorship and everyone is always either being trained or training in newer members. The human relations that arise from this kind of model have been a big inspiration in my practice. In particular, the tension between utopian aspirations and the very real day-to-day tasks and negotiations that are necessary to make these kinds of initiatives work. MP: In keeping with the curatorial concept of ‘Black Mountain’ (which focuses on alternative education), you have created a context-specific framework for ‘learning together through time and space’. The project’s title also stresses the idea of working collectively. Can you expand on what the concepts of ‘learning while doing’ and ‘being together in action’ generate within this project? AKVK: ‘Thinking through making’ is the tagline for the Applied Craft and Design programme and it was certainly one of the greatest lessons I took from my time there. It refers to the dialogue between an artist and their material, or perhaps more importantly, the perpetual dialogue within one’s own practice, characterised by research, making, reflecting, responding and re-making, as well as being open to unexpected outcomes and allowing these to inform your practice. This process requires openness – a crucial aspect of collaboration. Working together transforms the dynamic between people and can be a way to get past initial social awkwardness and create friendships or bonds. This connection can come from something as simple as lifting something heavy with another person. In my previous work on support, I started to think of helping someone, or working together, as the recipe for a kind of conviviality or symbiosis. MP: Perhaps you could also discuss the notion of ‘support’ and your conceptions of giving and receiving? AKVK: Support is an ongoing theme in my practice. In recent work, I looked at support as an inherently useful and pragmatic action. Support holds up, helps out and shares the load. Support is utopian – it works towards making things better; it helps things become and facilitates coming together. Support implies a giving and receiving that is often unregulated and that goes beyond conventional economies. MP: How did moving to America alter your practice, with regard to creating a synthesis between the personal and the social? AKVK: Before moving to America I had begun to doubt my practice and was not sure if I should give up on art all together and work at something more practical like design. This was my reason behind choosing an MA that focuses on fine art as well
as applied craft and design. The course itself was designed by an architect and it follows the practicum format of an architectural MA, so it contained many of my interests in one neat package. The abundance of craft-based design in Portland Oregon made me realise that making furniture or ceramics to sell in design shops was already a saturated field. When left to my own devices over the two years, I was way more excited about researching the structures that make up social relations, than I was about trying to become a design entrepreneur. I did, however, learn many practical skills while I was there and have now incorporated ceramics and metalwork into my practice. MP: Can you discuss any theoretical influences that underpin your work? AKVK: Much of the theoretical foundation for my work on support comes from Celine Condorelli’s book Support Structures. This book had a pivotal influence on my final MA project, ‘In Support’. The themes of friendship, collaboration, architectural infrastructure and support have since resonated throughout my practice. MP: What did you learn during your recent residency at Catalyst and how has this affected your current and ongoing research? AKVK: The residency in Catalyst was really useful in beginning to understand this new work. The activity of collaboratively assembling the work within the warm social space created by the fire, made me see that the finished framework was far less important than the experience of working together to assemble it. The opt-in approach to taking part in the assembly shifted the onus onto participants to become involved. This element of choice is something I would like to explore further in my practice. Manuela Pacella is an Italian art historian, curator and writer currently based in Rome. She works as a freelancer between Austria, Italy and Northern Ireland. Andreas Kindler von Knobloch is a visual artist based in Dublin. He focuses on ideas of collectivity and participation through the creation of structures, objects and spaces that question our material and social relations. ‘Black Mountain’ was presented at Catalyst Arts from 2 November – 14 December 2017 with contributions from: Andreas Kindler von Knobloch, Hamish MacPherson, Cecilia Borettaz, Lucrezia Calabrò Visconti, Adriana Monti and Redmond Entwistle.
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Career Development
Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
John Rainey, The Theatre of Projected Self, 2013; photograph by Philip Sayer, courtesy of Marsden Woo Gallery, London
Material Uncertainty WITH NEWLY COMMISSIONED WORK FOR EVA INTERNATIONAL 2018 ON THE HORIZON, MATT PACKER SITS DOWN WITH JOHN RAINEY TO DISCUSS THE TRAJECTORY OF HIS SCULPTURAL PRACTICE.
Left and right: John Rainey, Variants (detail) 2017; images courtesy Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast
Matt Packer: Can you describe how your background in the medium of ceramics continues to inform your work? John Rainey: Production and imitation are aspects of the ceramic discipline that continue to be particularly important within my work. However, my curiosity about how things are made, and my compulsion to physically produce things, predates my training in ceramics. For me, processes and skills feel very enabling. I have a need to constantly examine and improve on this technical capacity, which is what drives me forward. My interest in materials has always been broad, but I see my experience in ceramics as a good anchoring point that I can deviate from and return to. In a similar way to how people describe the process of learning languages, I think that my understanding of this material allows me to easily adopt novel materials. It’s very difficult to detach ceramics from the weight of its social, cultural and industrial histories. This richness of context results in a material language that people are generally very familiar with. I enjoy using the illusory potential of ceramics to destabilise this familiarity. Making the work appear as if it were another material, possibly marble, creates a sense of material confusion and uncertainty that I find useful. My work with 3D printing – either in creating final outcomes or as part of my ceramic process – has added to this play with material associations and expectations. MP: Yes, the experience of your work is often one of indeterminacy. Often it is difficult to tell whether we’re looking at an artificial material, or one that has a natural basis; a surface that has been handcrafted or digitally rendered. It’s a question of physicality that seems to extend from your process of production through to the encounter with the viewer. How much consideration do you give to viewers? JR: The effect on viewers is something that I’m still coming to terms with. The more responses I get and the more I try to rationalise them, the more my consideration of the effect becomes informed. There’s a tendency for the work to provoke a feeling
Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
John Rainey, iShroud, 2016; image by Simon Mills Photography
of disturbance, which, when taken to the extreme, can be experienced by some as disgust. I think this originates from my wider interests in the subversion of tradition, abjection and the uncanny (Freud’s “unheimlich” – the experience of strangeness in the familiar). However, for me, it’s important that viewers’ reactions tend more toward unease. The indeterminacy you mention is intentional, maybe as a sort of conditioning function that sets the tone for the viewers’ encounters with the artwork. The experience of digital culture and communication is something that influences me. These territories are still relatively unchartered and full of grey areas, disambiguation and misrepresentation. I want a sense of this to communicate through my sculptures, so I pack the work’s form and content with conflicting themes – beauty and ugliness, attraction and repulsion, tradition and progression. While my treatment of materials aims to question the established beliefs about the material world, there is also a quality to the forms themselves that, while somewhat referential, are trying to resist classification. MP: Across your sculptural practice, there are portrait busts composed with tiny hands; there’s what appears to be human hair coming from eyes. The character of the body in your work seems very fluid, not only in a technological sense, but in a figurative sense too, which adds to the uneasiness. How do you consider your relationship with ideas of the depicted body and the art historical traditions of figurative sculpture? JR: I often focus on parts of the body that are not considered the ‘core’. These non-core parts – such as hair, eyes and hands – are some of the most expressive and have obvious links with identity and identification. Hands feature regularly in my work because they tend to be our main point of contact when interfacing with machines. They also interest me as parts of the body depicted in historical sculptures that often don’t survive the passage of time. Hair, in the art historical sculptural tradition, was typically short, shrouded or tied up. I’ve always assumed that this was because
Career Development
John Rainey, Love in the Time of Artifice #3, 2013; image by Matthew Booth Photography
longer hair would be prone to damage, but generally hairstyles can be really indicative of a time and societal context. The use of real hair and glass eyes in my work moves it away from the homogenisation of the body into a single material, indicative of art historical traditions. Edgar Degas’s Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (1881) is an important sculpture for me. In its first presentations, Degas had deviated too far from contemporary material tastes (using wax, real hair and fabric) and the artwork wasn’t well received. These materials are often more associated with the waxwork, the diorama, animatronics and folk art. For me, that deepens the tension between reality and artifice, in a way that has since been used by sculptors like Hans Bellmer, as well as Ed and Nancy Kienholz to express social anxieties. MP: Your work is currently showing in the group exhibition, ‘Dissolving Histories’, at Golden Thread, Belfast (30 November 2017 – 20 January 2018) and you will also be producing new work for EVA 2018. Perhaps you could discuss your plans for this new work? JR: I think the most obvious development in both of these presentations is the shift in scale and ambition, in terms of production. For ‘Dissolving Histories’, I created a new work called Variants, which features a series of sculptural variations of a common statuary form, elevated above eye level on a large wooden structure. The structure features a central stairway leading to a viewing platform, where the viewer becomes surrounded by the series of sculptures and can examine the variation between the forms in a more intimate proximity. The work challenges the aim of repetition that is central to the slip casting processes often used in my work, creating a series without sequence or formal hierarchies that values singularity and deviation from a constant. In thinking about the viewer’s experience of a group of sculptures, in some ways I feel I was influenced by Barbara Hepworth’s nine-part bronze series, The Family of Man (1970). However, where Hepworth’s interest was in the relationship between man and nature,
Variants focuses on the relationship between man and manufacturing. For EVA 2018 I am producing an intervention on an architectural facade. The project refers to the eighteenth-century landscaping tradition of imitating Greek and Roman ruins within wealthy estates and country gardens. In this tradition, the ruin’s symbolism of a fallen world order was seen within the framework of the eighteenth-century aristocratic privilege. The ruin became a folly and a marker of taste, sophistication and the progression of civilisation. The project will explore these ideas and their contemporary status. MP: Do you have any long-term plans for future work? JR: I’m going to be spending the first six months of 2018 in Italy doing the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s fellowship at the British School at Rome. I think, with the relevance of this setting to my current work, this period will be very influential on what follows. I already have a sense that recent developments in my work – like the use of silicone, rubber and steel – will become increasingly significant. Another developing focus in my larger presentations over the last number of years has been the design of the viewer’s encounter, where the treatment of the space and the use of bespoke exhibition furniture has led to an integration of the sculpture and its display. I see this approach escalating in future exhibitions. One of my favourite activities is developing solo presentations, because they allow me to create these encapsulated environments for interconnected works. I feel they’ve been the catalyst for several major advancements in my work to date, so I hope the next few years provide more opportunities of that nature. John Rainey is a sculptor based in Belfast. Matt Packer is Director/CEO of EVA International – Ireland’s Biennial of Contemporary Art.
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Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
Festival
Sonorous Congregations DON O’MAHONY REPORTS ON SONIC VIGIL 10 – THE CORK-BASED SOUND ART AND MUSIC FESTIVAL.
Sonic Vigil 10, featuring (L – R): Elizabeth Hilliard, Anthony Kelly, Olesya Zdorovetska, Cathal Roche, Irene Murphy
SATURDAY 21 OCTOBER saw the tenth edition of Sonic Vigil take place in St Peter’s Church in Cork city. As an event that celebrates the act of listening, it is no surprise that it emerged in Cork, a city with a long and proud history of sound art and performance. Even so, the vigil is unique. Occurring outside of the traditional concert venue, exhibition or performance space, the vigil locates itself in places that are likely to be stumbled upon by the casual passer-by, while embodying elements that are germane to those same traditional spaces. Sonic Vigil has taken place in cathedrals and churches, either deconsecrated or still in use. It seems fitting that the event happens in places associated with worship – places that contain art, incorporate music, invite meditation and are not without an element of theatre. The disciples of Sonic Vigil are a varied bunch, whose interests encompass visual art, performance art, sound art, improvisational music and composition. The event itself is similarly eclectic and, over the years, has witnessed performances ranging from sound poetry to vinyl turntable experiments. Sonic Vigil 10 saw the body used as instrument, through: the voice of soprano Elizabeth Hilliard; the sound poetry, vocal improvisation and electronic sensor-based works of Tomomi Adachi; and the movement of choreographer Inma Pavon, whose performance involved a full-bodied interaction with sheets of fabric, creating a delicate rustling. Sonic Vigil may be the brainchild of sound and performance artist Danny McCarthy and artist Mick O’Shea, but its roots are in the visual art world and an annual group show at St Fin Barre’s Cathedral (from the late 1990s to the mid-2000s) organised by the Cork Artists Collective, whose studio nestles in the cathedral grounds. These shows presented a combination of painting, sculpture and installation work, but it became apparent that such works struggled to compete with the plentifully ornate furniture, mosaic paving and colourful stained-glass windows of Victorian architect William Burges’ Neo-Gothic edifice. As noted by O’Shea: “The whole cathedral is a work of art in itself. But we found then later on that video worked very well there. Video could compete or be in dialogue with it. But sound was a more obvious choice after that. Because then you could actually look at the visual work of the cathedral while listening to sound.”
Coinciding with Cork’s tenure as European Capital of Culture, the inaugural Sonic Vigil took place in 2005 and was an ambitious, if not gung-ho affair, taking place on a cold November Saturday with 25 participants performing over the course of 12 hours. “The initial idea was that everybody would set up around the periphery of the cathedral and that they would improvise with the person alongside them. It would be that kind of Chinese whispers going around. And then the audience come in and they listen and get their own mix”, recalls O’Shea. The results were startling. The cathedral thrummed to the glorious cacophony. There was a giddiness to it, a feeling that everything was up for grabs and it was as likely to tilt as much towards the chaotic, as to the inspired. Composer John Godfrey brought a choir of students from UCC. Later on, another choir appeared unannounced, as did a bunch of drummers. The evening reached a nadir when some interpretive dancers also arrived on the scene. Despite spending the duration of the event perched on the freezing cold marble of the altar, McCarthy feels there was a naivety about the event that had its own charm: “Some people played for almost the whole 12 hours. Some people played for 20 minutes and went away. It was that kind of interaction all the time” he reports. The next Vigil took place in 2007. “We skipped a year to recover or lick our wounds,” quips O’Shea. For the organisers there was a recognition of the need for greater control. This time, it took place in Cork city centre, in the modest setting of the 300-yearold Unitarian Church. The event was trimmed to five hours, with each act performing for up to 30 minutes and climaxing with a group improvisation. Sonic Vigil 3 returned to St Fin Barre’s in 2008 and remained there until 2010. By 2009, the event had acquired an international dimension thanks to the involvement of German field recordings label Gruenrekorder, who had four of their artists on the lineup (Roland Etzin, Angus Carlyle, Olivier Nijs and Suspicion Breeds Confidence). It also featured Dutch sound poet Japp Blonk, who was in town anyway to perform at the, now defunct, avant garde poetry festival ‘SoundEye’. Subsequent events have also enjoyed an international dimension, with British musician and sound theorist David Toop, and German
composer and installation artist Christina Kubisch being some of Sonic Vigil’s previous high-profile guests. For the most part, performances took place on a stage set up before the altar with each act allocated 20-minutes before a dutiful congregation. Yet, it wasn’t all ambient soundscapes as local noise terrorists SAFE and a 20-piece turntable orchestra solely playing locked grooves paid little heed to an atmosphere of reverence. 2010 also saw the organisers approach the students at the Cork Centre for Architectural Education to design listening posts that were stationed in the ambulatory and played sound pieces solicited from an open international call. Sonic Vigil 6 took place at Triskel Christchurch – a bespoke contemporary concert hall and cinema set in a stunningly restored neo-classical Church. The following year, the event moved to St Anne’s Church on the north side of the city, under the Shandon tower. The occasion was marked by a specially composed piece for organ and bells by David Stalling, co-founder of FarPoint Recordings, which opened and closed the event. It heralded a change in approach that freed it from the previous standard gig dynamic of act following act onstage. The event also saw Godfrey introduce a new innovation: a computer-generated roster system that allotted random playing times to individuals, ranging from a minimum of seven minutes up to a maximum of one hour, and often over a number of different slots. Each performer was unaware of the other performer’s rosters. This ensured an atmosphere of genuine improvisation, as participants unexpectedly found themselves playing alongside different musicians, producing diverse combinations of instruments, much in the manner of influential English free-improviser Derek Bailey’s ‘Company Week’. In recent years the curatorial team has expanded to include Godfrey, composer Karen Power and visual artist Irene Murphy (a founder of Cork Artists Collective). This mix of composers, musicians, artists and improvisers is responsible for bringing together a diversity of performers who, under other circumstances, would not be in the same room together. “Society has become very fragmented” acknowledges Murphy. “If you look on Sonic Vigil as being a society of artists working together, it’s a really open forum that you rarely get the opportunity to participate in.” Reflecting on its uniqueness, Godfrey described it as “an extraordinary way to celebrate improvisation and togetherness and community.” This sentiment was not lost on Adachi, who expressed his surprise that an event such as Sonic Vigil happens in a city as small as Cork. But that is the very reason why the event evolved, as the city is compact enough to enable people from different disciplines and backgrounds to cross paths at some stage. It’s why this year’s event featured two young musicians and percussionists, who, while both being adept improvisers, are more identifiable with the city’s alternative rock scene. Their participation made for some surprising moments that bucked the Vigil’s accustomed meditative approach. But the lack of divide isn’t purely one that runs through cross-disciplinary lines; it is also evident in the removal of barriers between musicians and audience. This was evident at Sonic Vigil 10 as audience members moved freely around the angled and dual-level interior of St Peter’s Church, in their search for the best vantage points. It was a phenomenon that hadn’t been witnessed since Sonic Vigil 1. This is what Power sees as “a lack of divide between an audience experience and the performer’s experience in that everybody is listening together, and the only difference is we as performers are responding to it through our instruments as the listeners would be responding to it through their ears.” Murphy affirms: “There is that equality because nobody knows what’s going to happen next, so we’re all on an equal par and you are anticipating.”
Don O’Mahony is a Cork-based freelance writer, local arts broadcaster and film festival programmer.
The Visual Artists' News Sheet
Critique Edition 35: January – February 2018
Seán Hillen, Trouble with the Spaceship, Co. Meath, 1994, collage, 19.5 x 26 cm. Featured in 'The Otherworld Hall' at Solstice Arts Centre, Navan, 27 October – 22 December 2017
Critique
Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
Barbara Ellison Robert Ellison Island Arts Centre, Lisburn, 23 November – 20 December 2017
Robert Ellison, Grassy Sound Cabin and Boardwalk NJ, 2017, oil on canvas, 71 x 91 cm
HUSBAND AND WIFE, Robert and Barbara Ellison, are showcasing their recent work in concurrent solo exhibitions across two gallery spaces at the Island Arts Centre in Lisburn. Without an overarching theme attributed, the exhibitions freely explore the artists’ varying techniques and painterly styles. This is a unique opportunity to see work by these two artists in the same venue at the same time, and to observe similarities and differences across their distinct practices. When opening the exhibition, artist Neil Shawcross noted that both artists are starting to gain international attention, with Robert’s work being shown in the Agora Gallery, New York, earlier in the year. Barbara Ellison has vast artistic experience as a member of the Ulster Watercolour Society, the previous Head of Art at Stranmillis College, and as the former president of the Ulster Society of Women Artists (until 2006). She has also won many awards for her work. In Gallery 2 at the Island Arts Centre, Barbara presents watercolour paintings, drawings and several mixed-media works, the majority of which are fairly new. Despite the fact that this large collection of 24 works is presented within a relatively small space, the exhibition does not feel overcrowded, arranged as it is. The artist is clearly experimenting with technique, evident in the mixed-media pieces, which add further layers of texture and complexity to her light and skilled
of the piece, with fragments of text-rich pages torn from a book. Combining with other textures and the lightness of the watercolour medium, this printed material adds a narrative layer to the work. The rest of the painting is dotted and scrawled with ink, darkening the overall effect and deepening its appeal – a tactile approach that ultimately offers a considered expression of what the artist is seeing and experiencing in her surroundings. With no curatorial theme, the exhibition presents a variety of subjects, from still life to landscape, depicting both calm and dramatic scenes. This variation leaves no doubt about the artist’s skill, when approaching any subject matter. In Gallery 1, Robert Ellison’s extensive series of oil and acrylic canvasses are similarly diverse in subject matter, ranging from still life scenes to depictions of Donegal landscapes. The artist is relatively new to painting yet has already gained substantial exposure, with his work being exhibited and collected across Northern Ireland and the United States. The most fascinating aspect within every single painting, is Robert’s interpretation of colour. His 2017 series, ‘The Garden in February’, is beautiful in its wholesome and optimistic treatment of an otherwise dull and dreary time of year. The series has bright blue skies, as well as mustard yellow landscapes infused with vibrant pinks, which are far from a typical Irish winter scene. Ellison embraces bright hues with thick, expressive brushstrokes, conveying his obvious joy at depicting his own garden in such a dynamic colour palette. The Island Arts Centre has taken care to present the work of these two artists as separate and distinct solo exhibitions in different rooms. However, when viewed together, the work really makes sense. There are a number of obvious crossovers, not least the fact that the artists clearly travel together, are inspired by similar things and have the same varied interests across a range of subject matter. For example, both artists present painterly interpretations of Blanche’s Farm. While Barbara’s acrylic painting, Gall Bog, near Blanche’s Farm (2017), simply sings with expressive tones and rough, angular movements, Robert’s Stream Near Blanche’s Farm, brings forth a heightened and colour-rich interpretation of a bright landscape under a lavender sky. These scenic alignments offer a lovely nod to the couple’s shared experiences, which are expressed from inherently different perspectives. It is unclear whether the two artists actually paint together, yet the similarities of subjects and locations unite their work in beautiful and thoughtful ways. Such duality makes these exhibitions a joy to explore first-hand and it therefore makes sense that the work of these artists be presented apart, yet be experienced in close proximity.
Mary Stevens is a curator and writer who currently lives in Belfast.
Barbara Ellison. Still Life With Apples And Pears, 2017, mixed media, 56 x 76 cm
painterly technique. Her exhibition feels like a foray into new territory, especially in relation to her watercolours, with the primary material always being simply water in the past. Still Life with Bowl and Peaches (2017) is a perfect example of the new direction in which the artist is leaning. This dynamic and exciting mixed-media piece depicts a deep blue bowl from above, with what appears to be three ripe peaches clustered in the corner. This peachy hue is echoed across the rest
Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
Critique
Brígh Strawbridge-O’Hagan ‘At the Fade’ Birr Arts Centre, 16 October – 1 December 2017
‘The Otherworld Hall’ Solstice Arts Centre, Navan, 27 October – 22 December 2017
I RARELY TURN DOWN an offer to travel to Birr, a heritage town with multiple architectural attractions. One of these is the Oxmantown Hall (a former parish hall built in 1888), now Birr Theatre and Arts Centre. Open in its current form since 2000, the renovated building is a jewel of Irish architectural history and a modern hub of arts activity for the town and surrounding region. The building faces a row of impressive terraced Georgian houses on a street that is shouldered by the ornate St Brendan’s Church. I travelled to Birr to see Brígh Strawbridge-O’Hagan’s show ‘At the Fade,’ which was installed in the front foyer of the building. I spent a few minutes knocking on the front door, before finding myself chatting with staff and drinking coffee while looking over the show. In many ways, this was the perfect preamble to thinking about the exhibited work, not least because I got time to reflect on my wonderful memories of Birr (having spent time there as a teenager), but also because memory – in some form or another – seems to be elicited intentionally in the brave simplicity of Strawbridge-O’Hagan’s work. But what do I mean by ‘brave simplicity’? At a time when artists are compelled to situate their practice within evermore complex discursive frameworks, it is refreshing to approach an exhibition that is simple, even modest, in its execution, concerned as much with what isn’t there and what has been subtracted. ‘At the Fade’ is a series of paintings, paper cuttings and pencil and charcoal drawings, with all but two being best described as landscapes. However, it is the drawings that I found most intriguing, with brave simplicity lying in their largely unfinished form. The best example, Away at Sea, is a pencil portrait, drawn in such a way as to suggest somebody that the artist is striving to remember, but cannot fully visualise. Perhaps ‘the fade’ denotes a yearning to remember; a point in our cognition when memories are difficult to grasp; or when the past is no longer immediately accessible as ‘the past’. This process of grappling with memory is also addressed in Sea Rope, an exquisite drawing of a large rope knot, the strands of which fade into nothingness in the surrounding page. Each strand is indicative of a memory, with the knot signifying a striving to remember. Memory, in this sense, could
as an alternative narrative, highlighting the blurring of fact and fiction within ancient mythology – a concept that flows through the exhibition as a whole. Greenan’s work, The Eighth Seal (2017), investigates the significance of Sheela na Gigs – figurative carvings of naked women displaying exaggerated vulvas. The dramatic transformation of truth into mythology is palpable here, referenced by Greenan in relation to the ongoing socio-political debate surrounding the Eighth Amendment. Alongside his mixed-media sculptures and paintings, Tadhg McSweeney presents a video piece. A trio of monitors are stacked beside a motion-activated turntable. Instead of a needle, a small camera; instead of a record, a pamphlet. Once activated, all focus shifts to the screens which display an enlarged and hypnotic symbol, evoking the nearby Neolithic monument, Newgrange. As the symbol rotates, its source disappears from consciousness. The interpretation of symbolism is further explored in the work of Lucy McKenna. Her installaAoibheann Greenan, The Eighth Seal, 2017, mixed media on paper, 40 x tion, A Soft Whistling, features acrylic 29.5 cm and vinyl sheets that cast symbols and patterns at different angles and coTHE TERM ‘URBAN LEGENDS’ may trace its lours. A visual language is constructed, reminding lineage back to the 1960s, but as a cultural phe- us that our interpretations of symbolism within arnomenon, the term has existed for millennia under chaeological sites are often highly subjective. the guise of folklore and mythology. The internet’s Doireann Ní Ghrioghair’s recent sculpturemergence has proved a double-edge sword for al work is achieved through taking plaster casts modern mythical incarnations, offering both the of parts of public buildings. Allowed to dry unplatform to spread the tale and the means to de- supported, these casts subside in on themselves, bunk it. Originally, folklore provided tales of hu- echoing the collapse and impermanence of past mour or warning, and, as such, disproving them was civilisations. Ní Ghrioghair has included piggenerally not a priority. These stories often con- ments in these casts, reminding us that many tained grains of truth – elements that rooted them buildings and statues from antiquity were once in reality – before they were embellished into more colourfully finished, their modern blanched thrilling versions. In recent decades, greater archae- veneer now denoting loss and absence. The reological understanding of the Brú na Bóinne com- casting of visual metaphors is also evident in the plex in County Meath has shown that this process work of Seán Hillen, who takes a multi-layered also extends to ancient mythologies. We still cannot approach. Hillen presents work from his collage fully substantiate or corroborate these mythologies. series, ‘IRELANTIS’ (1994 – 2005), in two difThis threshold between truth and myth serves as ferent formats: some are facsimile reproductions, the departure point for ‘The Otherworld Hall’, re- while others are archival copies of the originals. cently presented at Navan’s Solstice Arts Centre. Hillen seeks to create new mythologies from Seven artists were chosen by curator-in-res- fragments, pulling together divergent sources to idence, Sabina Mac Mahon, to articulate this corroborate them. History, it seems, can be reconcept. The exhibition is underpinned by Mac produced in varying formats. Mahon’s reference to Nano Reid’s painting, Where Sean Lynch’s video work, Campaign to Change Oengus Óg Magnificently Dwells (1963). Sadly, this the National Monuments Act (2016), addresses a piece is absent, but two of Reid’s later works are 1987 amendment which banned the use of metal included instead, invoking the gallery’s surrounding detectors to discover historical objects. In ancient landscape with their muddy rural palettes and runic societies, the discovery of an artefact was often paraphernalia. However, while they don’t appear to greeted with fear, to the extent that the object was sit uncomfortably with the surrounding work, they, reburied with an offering, in a gesture to appease at times, fail to interject with the contemporary the gods. Nowadays, such offerings are kept by the pieces. Instead, they occupy a space between the finders. In order to protect itself from legal chaldialogue created by other works – echoing the Tu- lenges, the state has opted to seal the ground to atha Dé Danann, who built sites such as Newgrange opportunists. This curtails the discovery of new aronly to depart to the otherworld, leaving the living tefacts and future evidence to support existing theto inhabit Ireland. ories. Whilst this approach cannot be sustained, it The work from each artist has been dispersed does at least encourage us to reconsider the history across three rooms, creating a nonlinear narrative we already have – something explored at length by that encourages viewers to engage with pieces in the artists in ‘The Otherworld Hall’. their own order. This curatorial approach helps to gel the disparate mediums and practices, which play off each other; topics raised within one work can be Aidan Kelly Murphy is a writer and continued by another. On entering the exhibition, photographer based in Dublin, and Arts we encounter a sculptural fragment by Aoibheann Editor for The Thin Air. Greenan. Removed from its parent piece, it is recast
Brígh Strawbridge-O'Hagan, All Washed Up
mean an untangling of the knots that we call ‘life’. The centerpiece work of ‘At the Fade’ is – on first viewing – the immense drawing, When Waves Were Horses. However, after leaving the centre, I found myself thinking about the only piece that blends figuration and abstraction. Circular and two-tiered in its formation, the top section of Dusk Split consists of an atmospheric charcoal drawing of a woodland viewed from a distance (over which there are swirling clouds). The bottom tier is a series of colorful penciled lines drawn perpendicular to the base of the upper tier. In some sense, I was drawn in by the simplicity of line and by what isn’t formed in these colours. It’s as if the artist offers us the tools to complete the picture for ourselves. I began imagining where the lines might lead, like lines of flight from the dark forest the soul, with each colour opening up an emotion in me. Prior to leaving the space, I chatted with the staff about the challenges faced by multi-purpose arts centres across rural Ireland and soon afterwards, found myself pushing a trolley around the local Tesco. Before I knew it, I was at the counter buying the remastered version of George Michael’s 1990 album Listen Without Prejudice. I always wanted the album, but was too inhibited as a teenager to admit that I liked George Michael. Driving down the motorway with the songs bellowing, I thought about how I would write this review. Unbeknownst to myself, the seed of an idea had been planted. Several works presented in ‘At the Fade’ had touched me to such an extent that I did something affirmative and bought something I had always wanted. Maybe, I thought, something in these images had engendered a kind of opening in me? Revisiting this place to see the exhibition had triggered memories and unexpected thoughts. Sometimes we just need a nudge in the right direction. ‘At the Fade,’ in its entirety, offered a gentle and rewarding prod. Dara Waldron lectures at the School of Art and Design, Limerick. He is the author of the forthcoming New Nonfiction Film: Art, Poetics and Documentary Theory (Bloomsbury, 2018). He also maintains the experimental arts blog ‘Art Encounters’ for HeadStuff.ie.
Featuring: Aoibheann Greenan, Seán Hillen, Sean Lynch, Lucy McKenna, Tadhg McSweeney, Doireann Ní Ghrioghair, Nano Reid
Critique
Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
Yvonne McGuinness ‘Amharc Fhine Gall 11th Edition’ Draíocht Arts Centre, 22 November 2017 – 3 February 2018
IN YVONNE MCGUINNESS’S two-channel film installation, Holding ground where the wood lands (2017) – commissioned for this year’s ‘Amharc Fhine Gall (Fingal Gaze)’ exhibition – a group of adolescents from a local Foróige club are depicted meandering through open fields and woodlands surrounding the former Plunkett Estate in Portmarnock (now Malahide Golf Club). Centred around a pivotal and formative time in their lives, the film fluctuates between documentary film and directed theatrics and depicts the young men engaged in a series of performative actions. An idyllic history is portrayed, in which peacocks roamed these once private gardens. On one screen, birds flutter and fly, while a typical, yet strangely alien landscape is depicted on the other. We hear the call of a peacock, slightly muffled, as if belonging to a distant memory. On hearing it again, we realise that the call is being made by one of the young men, as he mimics the distinctive birdcall that would have once echoed here. Such inversion eloquently informs questions about performed identity and relationships with place that permeate the rest of the film. Birds often act out territorial displays through their own unique rituals. One such feathered performer, evoked by McGuinness’s film, is the toothbilled bowerbird (a well-known and admired mimic of the forests of Queensland, Australia). For good
Guinness’s peacock is grounded ‘where the wood lands’, the bowerbird’s territories constantly shift. The youth group are the stage-makers of their own forest and territories; through their own rituals, they delimit and probe at its edges. They make borders by painting lines in the grass and let out animalistic screams, as if engaged in some ceremonial purge. The young men proclaim to “begin again”, vocalising this message and writing it on a wall. They make a campsite staged between blue and red textiles draped from surrounding trees. Sitting around the fire, they work through a scripted conversation, before reading in unison along with the voice of an older, absent man, who recalls this place as he remembers it in his youth. One of the young men unearths an adolescent tree in the forest. In darkness, the group march in a torch-led procession out of the woods, all wearing life jackets, to the sound of crashing waves. As a collective, they re-plant this adolescent tree, which becomes a ritualistic emblem. By relentlessly probing at the architecture of these territories, the film tentatively explores how these processes might relate to their identity, self-hood and sense of belonging. Of course, a genuine sense of identity and belonging are not easily uncovered in the throes of adolescence, and McGuinness appropriately demonstrates these tensions through the geometry of material, both on and off the screen. The visual counterpoints of ritual catharsis and alienating landscapes across the dual screens compete with a steady editorial rhythm. This tension is also manifested spatially, as the two channels are projected on separate adjoining walls, meeting in a hard-edge in the corner of the gallery. These competing channels move past this staged dialectic to fleetingly converge. At times, it seems almost as if a synthesis has been reached – a thematic impasse crossed – only for the channels to split again and the tension to return. Amidst this duelling, there are flatter moments and narrative elements that spin off into nothing. However, the sincerity of the actors in their participation ensures that the film, overall, remains engaging. The same cannot be said of the accompanying installation – comprising 33 freshly-cut tree trunks (some of which feature briefly in the film), six monitors looping video portraits of the actors, and a vinyl text piece installed on the back wall – aspects which are supposed to offer the film some spatial extension. Aside from the potent, almost intoxicating smell of perfumed wood coming from the tree trunks, none of these elements seem to offer any transformative dimensions to the main feature. A significant mediating factor however, is the gallery space itself, dialectically situated between another territorial relationship and presenting its own unique tensions – that of the art institution and the wider public realm. Philip Kavanagh is an artist and writer based in Dublin.
Top and bottom: Yvonne McGuinness, Holding ground where the wood lands, 2017, two channel HD film; images courtesy the artist
reason, this bird is also known as the ‘stage-maker’ bowerbird. It drops selected leaves light-side up on the forest floor, deliberately contrasting against the earth, before taking its place on this constructed stage. Fluttering a dance, the bird exposes a flurry of coloured feathers that normally remain hidden, weaving harmonies and making use of its own melodies, whilst also mimicking the songs of its neighbours. It assembles and performs with an elegant and deliberate rigour and, in pursuing such rituals, it builds territories of colour and song. While Mc-
Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
Conference
Valuing Artistic Legacy JOANNE LAWS REPORTS ON IVARO’S ARTISTS’ ESTATES CONFERENCE.
A CONFERENCE ON MANAGING artists’ estates was held at the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA), Dublin, on 23 November 2017. The event was organised by the Irish Visual Artists Rights Organisation (IVARO) – Ireland’s copyright collecting society for visual artists. In his opening address, RHA Director, Patrick Murphy, suggested that the Irish visual arts community urgently needs clarity regarding the legislation surrounding artists’ estates. In the last year alone, five RHA members have passed away, raising pertinent questions about preserving artistic legacies. Murphy welcomed the prospect of professional guidance across a range of topics relating to artists’ estates. Reiterating the timeliness of the event, conference chair, Cliodhna Ní Anluain, introduced the first speaker, Henry Lydiate – an international art lawyer and consultant who has worked with high-profile artists to put systems in place “before the trouble starts”, often before the art is even made. Lydiate delivered a vibrant keynote presentation to a diverse audience, comprising artists, relatives of artists, archivists, representatives of cultural institutions, trustees and administrators of artists’ estates. He commenced by outlining the tangled scenario of Francis Bacon’s estate. According to Lydiate, Bacon was against any form of planning or documentation and was “scared to death of signing anything”. When Bacon died, two executors were appointed: Bacon’s artist friend Brian Clarke and his long-time dealer, Marlborough Fine Art. Having the gallery as executor was a huge conflict of interest and they were eventually removed, leaving Clarke the task of singlehandedly managing Bacon’s estate and identifying where his work had gone. While Bacon did not care about posterity, many other artists do. Lydiate directed the question to living artists: “Do you care about what happens to your art after you die?” If so, preparations should start with planning an archive, assembling a categorised inventory of work and leaving recorded instructions about your wishes. According to Lydiate, estate planning can be viewed as an artist’s “last and potentially enduring creative act”. However, the inheritance of an artists’ estate can frequently leave serious problems for families, regarding legal, financial, administrative, commercial and artistic implications. In terms of planning an artistic estate, it is best to establish a legal entity and to appoint carefully selected executors or trustees – not family or friends, who may not have the necessary skills. However, it is common to have a family representative on the board. Galleries can help in numerous ways, by storing or preserving artworks, providing this is outlined in a contract. It is possible to divide an artistic estate into portions, with different provisions being made for different assets. Tangible assets include: immovable (e.g. real estate); moveable (e.g. tools and equipment); and artworks. Living artists should consider whether artworks are finished or unfinished, for sale or not for sale, as it is difficult for families to make these decisions afterwards. Intangible assets include: intellectual property rights; sale of unique or limited-edition objects; copyright (valid until 70 years after the artist’s death); resale rights; and patents (e.g. Yves Klein’s ‘International Klein Blue’). In addition, one needs to consider the duration of the estate. The romantic-sounding “sunset estates” do not go on “in perpetuity”; they have a fixed-term. Possible exit strategies include donating an estate to an institution, library or museum. Lydiate emphasised that managing artists’ estates should not be driven by law; rather, law should be used as a tool to help create a legacy and manage it efficiently. According to gallery director and advisor to art collectors, Oliver Sears, the art market is over 5000 years old. Yet for approximately 4800 years, artworks were simply commissioned under an artisan model. It wasn’t until eighteenth-century Dutch artists began painting landscapes themselves, that there was a proliferation of independent artists. Today, there are an incredible number of artists making work. When they die, their remaining artworks need to be managed. Sears cited Matisse’s estate – inscrutably managed by his secretary, who had vast knowledge of his work, but never made money out of it – as the perfect scenario. Robert Ballagh has worked as a professional artist for over 50 years and has been associated with a number of artists’ campaigns. In 1980, he set up the Association of Artists in Ireland, meeting with civil servants to campaign for better conditions for artists, tax exemption, the introduction of the Per Cent for Art scheme and Artists’ Resale Rights. Ballagh will leave his archive to the National Irish Visual Arts Library (NIVAL) for prosperi-
Henry Lydiate at the Artists' Estates Conference, Royal Hiberian Academy, 23 November 2017
ty, comprising documentation pertaining to various commissions. During the panel discussion, Patrick Murphy suggested that the Irish arts community is perhaps “on the cusp of gaining sophistication” in “beginning to value [its] heritage”. Lydiate commented that, in recent years, there has been a huge shift within the arts ecosystem, driven by digital technology. Gallerists are “shifting away from bricks and mortar galleries and reaching out to a global audience with jpegs”, while younger artists are embracing digital technology to authenticate their work, using alternative storage systems such as Blockchain to secrete information within artworks themselves, in a process akin to DNA. Several legal professionals offered pragmatic insights into financial and legal frameworks. Business consultant Gaby Smyth works with the high-profile estates of Irish poet Seamus Heaney and Welsh sculptor Barry Flanagan. He outlined best-practice guidelines for establishing an artist’s estate: (i) Get detailed and unambiguous instructions from the artist while they are alive; (ii) Get agreement or consensus from the family, where possible; (iii) Seek professional legal advice. Professional conflicts of interest should be avoided from the outset. Smyth outlined how Brian Flanagan had two years to “get his affairs in order”, after being diagnosed with motor neuron disease. Flanagan wanted his estate to function as a commercial trading entity and made provisions for how the stakeholders would be paid. He left instructions for sculptures to be cast posthumously until editions are complete, effectively creating a “living archive”, rather than just a body of work to be managed. When moulds are beyond repair, manufacturing and trading ceases – offering a good example of an “in perpetuity estate”. At that stage, they will liquidate into a trust, gifting the collection to a public institution. Activities of the estate to date include: compiling a Catalogue Raisonné; working with Flanagan’s gallery to digitise his archive; sponsoring PhD research; and building a collection. Chartered accountant and tax consultant Donal Bradley spoke about succession planning and inheritance tax – also known as Capital Acquisitions Tax (CAT). Offering advice on minimising CAT, Bradley suggested that inheritance could be “paid in instalments”, rather than as a lump sum. Up to €3000 can be paid tax-free each year, to multiple children or grandchildren. Bradley suggested it would be shrewd for artists to carefully structure their gifts, property and assets before death, to avoid passing on a significant inheritance tax. In addition, taking out a life insurance policy might potentially cover any inheritance tax due. Frank O’Reilly from the Whitney Moore Law Firm made important distinctions between foundations and limited companies. According to O’Reilly, foundations have charitable objectives and are set up by deeds of trust. Foundations are more expensive to set up and maintain, as there are compliance costs involved, but they are less scrutinised for tax. In contrast, a limited company is an ongoing trading vehicle. It is easy to set up, the rules are
well-established, and the main objective is profit. If the aim is to create or manufacture extra editions or generate a higher profile for the estate, then it is often better to set up a limited company. Katie Blackwood from NIVAL offered archival perspectives on estate planning. NIVAL preserves supporting documentation from artists’ careers, making it available to the public. Affectionately nicknamed “The Stasi” by one NCAD staff member, NIVAL houses a comprehensive collection of published books, journals and catalogues pertaining to Irish art and design, as well as ephemera files, outlining “the backstory of art”, found in printed material such as press releases, invites, exhibition reviews, price lists and small-scale catalogues. Documents pertaining to the behind-the-scenes running of various organisations and festivals include: gallery plans, exhibition programmes, financial notebooks, minutes from meetings and visitor books. NIVAL also houses Special Collections – archival material that is purposefully kept together in the original sequence. One such example is a collection bequeathed by Irish critic and art historian Dorothy Walker (1929 – 2002). Marie McFeely, Images & Licensing Officer at National Gallery of Ireland (NGI), manages the intellectual property relating to the 16,300 artworks in the museum’s collection, 25% of which are currently in copyright. According to McFeely, without legitimate rights and clearances, museums cannot fully utilise their collections. The museum has traced the estates of over 300 artists – a process that involves tracking down copyright heirs, mediating on behalf of estates, and developing a copyright database. McFeely outlined the fascinating copyright case of Irish painter, Paul Henry, which proved hugely problematic for the museum. Henry was married twice and died intestate, necessitating a widespread search for the rights-holders. The NGI began by examining the will of his second wife, Mabel. After scouring cemetery and church records, heirs to Henry’s estate were finally identified and were shocked to learn that they stood to inherit Henry’s copyright royalties. This complex case, which required NGI staff to act as detectives and interpreters of the testate, highlights artists’ wills as part of a bigger picture, regarding the preservation of cultural legacies – a sentiment that underpinned the conference as a whole. As stated by Ní Anluain, having these conversations within the visual arts community suggests a “coming of age”. Artists were advised to consult with representative organisations like IVARO who can offer expert guidance.
Joanne Laws is Features Editor for the Visual Artists' News Sheet.
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Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
VAI Event
Rachel Julca (Artists at the Mill) Belfast Open Studios, 21 October; image courtesy Malachy McCrudden
Belfast Open Studios 2017
JANE MORROW REPORTS ON THE PUBLIC AND ARTIST-CENTRED PROGRAMMES HAPPENING DURING BELFAST OPEN STUDIOS, HOSTED BY VISUAL ARTISTS IRELAND. CHANGE IS UNDERWAY in Belfast, precipitated by the stalemate in governance, uncertainty around the future of ‘armslength bodies’ and further cuts to the arts (now sitting within the Department for Communities, amongst housing, urban regeneration and other local services). As a result, there has never been more need for events such as Belfast Open Studios – now in its fourth year – to highlight the activities of artists working in the city. By focusing on individual artists, rather than organisations or exhibitions, Belfast Open Studios offers a strong collective voice during times of uncertainty. What would Belfast be without a little politics? Belfast Open Studios took place on Saturday 21 October across multiple venues. Supported for the fourth consecutive year by our cultural partner Belfast International Festival, the event engaged with new audiences and acted as a platform for a diverse network of artists working across a range of artforms. This year we formed a steering group, composed of administrators and coordinators from each studio, to guide the programme and to encourage ownership amongst artists. Collectively we refined the event to present two key elements: a public programme and an artists’ programme, both of which focused on visibility as an advocacy tool. Four new studio groups joined the Open Studios line-up this year: Belfast Bankers in the east of the city; Duncairn Arts Centre in the north; Studio Souk in the city centre; and Embrace Studios in the west (who also launched their new space and programme during the event). The appearance of these new sites for both engagement and production reflects everything that an artists’ studio now needs to be: affordable for its tenants; sec-
tor-strengthening in areas of burgeoning gentrification; reflective of an area’s artistic and wider communities; and offering potential sources of income generation. Just one example is Embrace, which responds to these criteria by addressing “political, social, gender or cultural inequality issues [and] giving voice to the uniqueness of individuals, locations and communities”. Responses from artists based in the east of the city were largely positive. Amidst a flourishing visual arts community and infrastructure in the area, there is an awareness that visitors from passing footfall cannot be guaranteed. However, many report that they welcome ‘new faces’ and members of the local business community who continue to engage in meaningful, and hopefully long-term, ways. As described by Suki Tea, one of VAI’s key sponsors, “artists form the foundation of the community’s creative environment, acting as individual entrepreneurs who provide many of the products that drive innovation. Many artists also work as educators, providing training in creative skills and passing on cultural traditions from one generation to the next. We jumped at the opportunity to support our local artists to continue to develop their careers, market their products and share their ideas with others”. We invited individual artists to hold talks, workshops, demonstrations or other public events between 14 October and 3 November, which would attract audiences and generate revenue through ticket sales. We also published the names of those involved in this year’s programme. We felt doing so gave a small show of appreciation to everyone who carves out a livelihood in these spaces (yet remains largely invisible to the public) whilst also shaping a new and vital set of values that extend far beyond
Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
VAI Event
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Top left: Belfast Bankers, Belfast Open Studios, 21 October; image courtesy Malachy McCrudden
Top: Right: Stephen Millar (Creative Exchange) Belfast Open Studios, 21 October; image courtesy Malachy McCrudden
Bottom left: Jennifer Trouton (QSS)
Belfast Open Studios, 21 October; image courtesy Malachy McCrudden
Bottom Right: VAI Speed Curating event, Belfast Exposed, 4 November 2017; image courtesy David Copeland, Belfast Exposed
studio walls. A series of Studio Spotlight events at QSS showcased diverse methodologies and practices – from painting in an expanded field, to socially-engaged interventions. Trina Hobson (Lombard Studios) produced thirty specially-commissioned portraits which where exhibited on the open day. Performances took place across the city by artists including Hugh O’Donnell in Flax Art Studios, as well as Roisin Owens and Amanda Coogan in QSS. Belfast Print Workshop – who celebrated their 40th year in 2017 – reflected on their organisational and contextual history through a popular series of screening events at Crescent Arts Centre, curated in partnership with Northern Ireland Screen’s Digital Film Archive (DFA). Northern Visions TV covered the Belfast Open Studios Visual Artists Café on 14 October, as part of their Focal Point series on artists’ spaces in the city. They also broadcast a series of discussions with the studio community, led by Donegal-based curator and writer Marianne O’Kane Boal. Perennially popular, this year’s Speed Curating event took place on 4 November at Belfast Exposed and was attended by over 90 artists and 19 guest curators who are based regionally, nationally or internationally. Providing a backdrop to the event, a group exhibition at the gallery, entitled ‘Catharsis’, showcased three projects by contemporary photographers who use portraiture to explore complex or repressed personal narratives. In light of VAI’s 2016 survey: The Social, Economic, and Fiscal Status of the Visual Artist in Ireland, we’re continuously mindful of the diverse identities, backgrounds, experiences and geographical profiles of the people we work with. One of our visiting curators, Patricia Fleming, pioneered Fuse: an employment training scheme which ran from 1992–99. Fuse provided free studios in Glasgow and a stipend which supplemented state benefits for over 500 artists, including Jacqueline Donachie, Douglas Gordon and Simon Starling, amongst others. This single initiative led to a flourishing Glasgow art scene, a buoyant market and unprecedented regional graduate retention. It echoes the work recently undertaken between VAI and the De-
partment of Regional Development, Rural Affairs, Arts and the Gaeltacht in the Republic of Ireland, as well as the ‘Paying Artists’ and Artists’ Union campaigns currently happening across the UK. Visibility and recognition are the first steps in these campaigns and are the primary objectives of Belfast Open Studios. Marguerite Nugent visited from Wolverhampton Art Gallery to speak about their collection of Northern Irish art – the largest outside Northern Ireland – and to conduct Project Clinics. Originally conceived to represent the art of the troubles (as well as ‘The Art of the Troubles’, a touring exhibition co-curated with the Ulster Museum in 2014–15), this growing collection now represents other global geographical or political flashpoints and work developed in post-conflict societies. Artists want to make lives here in Belfast, whilst making work that is relevant to, and inclusive of, the region and its people. Outside recognition is often considered a bonus. Interestingly, representatives from local galleries such as Void, the MAC, Golden Thread Gallery and the Naughton Gallery were the first Speed Curating slots to quickly book out. Those who missed out on their first choices found that meetings with other curators turned out to be equally encouraging and they benefited from their feedback in unexpected ways. During the sold-out Curator’s Talks event at VAI offices on 3 November, attendees got a good understanding of how contemporary independent curators work, setting the mood for the Speed Curating event that followed. Invited speakers Jes Fernie and Patricia Fleming embodied a spirit of generosity, emphasising the importance of resource-sharing during times of scarcity, particularly in regional areas. In a similar vein, artists in Northern Ireland are responding to a notable lack of generosity within current social and political discourse, both nationally and globally. Artists came together to ensure both presence in their studios and presence on the streets: a number of protest marches coincided with this year’s programme. They are developing progressive frameworks for participation and dialogue, utilising formal outlets like Belfast Open Studios, or more deeply-embedded
enterprises such as the Cathedral Quarter Trust or Belfast City Council’s Local Development Plan. This felt like a crunch year for Belfast Open Studios. If the event was not deemed a success by artists, we feared that it would be unlikely to happen again. In fact, in 2017 we superseded most of our previous records, engaging with more studios, communities and individual artists, whilst drawing in higher audience figures for members of the public than in previous years. We hope to stage another such event in 2018, with even more participants, to demonstrate the growing number of practitioners working throughout the city. Advocacy, opportunity, generosity and engagement: this is the language – the currency – of the artists and studio groups operating in Belfast. For more information on the 2017 Belfast Open Studios programme, please visit: belfastopenstudios.com or email: jane@visualartists-ni.org.
Jane Morrow is an independent curator and consultant with a specific interest in artist development. She regularly contributes to projects with Visual Artists Ireland, including Belfast Open Studios and New Spaces. janemorrow.com
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Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
Legacy
[Plus or Minus] Billion CHRIS HAYES DISCUSSES THE CONTRIBUTIONS MADE TO IRISH ARTS CRITICISM BY JAMES MERRIGAN’S LONG-RUNNING BLOG, ‘BILLION JOURNAL’.
Promotional Shot for James Merrigan's critic-in-residence for EVA Interational (2014)
IRISH ART CRITIC JAMES MERRIGAN represents an unusual merging of worlds. His critical approach is informed by both the specific style of art criticism found in American newspapers (practiced by writers such as Dave Hickey and Peter Schjeldahl) and the adoption of online publishing via digital blogs during the early noughties, as fast and furious, gatekeeper-free networks. In his project, Billion Journal, Merrigan embraced the strength of these networked digital platforms, striving to hold the position of an outspoken critic, while balancing a fraught relationship with the Irish art world. Time and time again, Merrigan returned to confronting what he described as “the lick-arse economy of our art scene”.1 Much of the force of his work derived from the high-wheeling drama of his polemics; his texts read as if they were not only written, but also being ‘performed’. Merrigan’s embrace of different outputs and platforms was influenced, in part, by his distrust of the art world and, more specifically, his observations about the problematic and stifling effect of what he terms its “cliquish insider nature”. Merrigan’s latest publication, +billion- journal [2010 – 2017] – containing the entirety of his 121 reviews previously posted on the Billion Journal website – was published in February 2017 to mark the dramatic end of the project. For seven years, Merrigan posted bi-weekly exhibition reviews, or essays discussing the work of Irish artists, the art scene or the role of the art critic. This perpetual impulse was in keeping with conversations about publishing on the internet. The ‘blogosphere’ was originally a derisive term, and still to this day, blogs can be shrugged off as unserious or not worthwhile. Self-publishing offered Merrigan a platform that bypassed the hurdles of editors, publication schedules and the overheads associated with print. I previously interviewed Merrigan in 2016 and he explained: “I wanted my reviews to be part of the conversation. So, if there was an opening on and my review came out three days later, it became part of the conversation. I wrote a few catalogue essays as well and I never got the same energy, the same anxiety as with Billion; Billion is all about anxiety, as well as about conversation, it’s about energy – it’s about saying what you like, really”.2 Billion Journal certainly succeeded in being part of the conversation. But this was about more than just timely publishing; it was
a reaction against the art scene as he saw it. Merrigan repeatedly referred to the idea of what gets said and what doesn’t. He told me: “I was fed up with artists saying things in secret; artists are brilliant critics. I realised that very quickly. I was going to a lot of openings and a lot of people have a lot to say about their peers – and it was really good criticism. But it wasn’t getting out there”.3 The idea of the weekly newspaper art critic is a romantic one. On their regular beat, they ‘tell it like it is’, but this model of criticism isn’t without its own historical baggage. Their authority comes from seeing it all and seeing it again – typically, they lament the hype and PR spin from curators, galleries and institutions; their steadfast stance against fleeting trends comes from healthy levels of cynicism. As highlighted by curator and editor, Eilís Lavelle, Billion’s “lively anti-academic criticality emerges with a spectrum of references and visceral analogies tethered from art history, journalistic art criticism, popular culture and philosophical perspectives”. In one particular Billion post, entitled ‘Liminal is fine, but…’, Merrigan reviewed Caoimhe Kilfeather’s exhibition ‘season and evening and weather and history’ at the Douglas Hyde Gallery.4 In this post, he discussed the restricted language often repeated ad nauseam in relation to artworks. Going against the widespread use of the term ‘liminality’ in response to Kilfeather’s work, Merrigan imagined other possibilities, such as TV static, decay, sleepless nights and pill-popping. Critic and researcher, Rebecca O’Dwyer responded on the same day, to both Merrigan’s text and the gendered nature of subjectivity in art writing more broadly, arguing: “each interpretation is not intrinsically right: Kilfeather’s exquisite work is no more about popping pills as it is about day-time TV”.5 She argues that subjectivity and personal stories are important tools against “the still-dominant discourse, which is that of the straight-whitemale”. The key point for O’Dwyer, is the relationship between the writer and the art, adding that “the relation between the critic and artwork should be an empathetic, rather than dominant, one”. In a subsequent post, ‘Critical Bonds’, O’Dwyer elaborates on her critique, writing: “Now, I completely understand and appreciate Merrigan’s stance as provocateur: for criticism to be critical, he surmises, the critic must adopt a heroic warrior pose, unbeholden to the quotidian bonds of normal life. Ascetic, this critic renounc-
es dinner parties, exhibition openings, and social media. Radical estrangement is his – and I fear it is always ‘his’ – true home.”6 In the fallout of a global economic crisis, Ireland became a poster boy for austerity policies, the legacies of which are still unravelling today. The Irish art scene was never particularly well-funded, but it was hit harder still during this time. CIRCA Art Magazine was Ireland’s leading art magazine, publishing from 1981 to 2009 and chronicling every major artist and topical debate during this period. When CIRCA ceased publishing, Irish art criticism had to learn and adapt in order to survive. Billion represents a particularly innovative approach to Irish art criticism during this time, with projects spanning many formats – including online blog posts, printed matter, multimedia experiments and public conversations – that aimed to address the critical void left behind with the demise of CIRCA. Many of Merrigan’s other concurrent writing projects also examined and responded to the Irish art scene. A series of Merrigan’s essays was published in a 2013 book entitled Agents of Subjectivism, underpinned by the themes of seduction and sublimation in art, as well as issues surrounding artistic voices, retreat, interventions and agency. While Billion Journal published urgent reviews and essays, a series of audio-visual video essays, entitled the ‘SHITLIST’ was also developed to offer expanded coverage of annual graduate exhibitions between 2012 and 2016. The provocative title suggested that the graduate artists featured on Billion’s ‘SHITLIST’ were potentially “the shit” – as in worthwhile and important. There’s an additional provocation, of course, simply in the gesture of making a list, picking good from bad, and putting your critical judgements out there. As part of his role as critic-in-residence at EVA International (2014), Merrigan developed a series of open letters to participating artists, while ‘Towards A Subculture of Art’ became one of Merrigan’s most definitive texts, which he repeatedly references and has republished in his most recent book, Madder Lake (2017). In this ‘call to arms’, Merrigan describes his own transition from artist to critic, motivated, in part, by the constraints created by a lack of money and the perceived limitations of “playing the game”. The problems he identifies are mostly structural – namely severe inequality, a lack of pay and the acceptance of precariousness for artists. If the art scene is, could, or should be a ‘subculture’, Merrigan’s projects embrace radical strategies that open the potential for multiple critical and persuasive voices. Merrigan’s post-Billion projects have included teaching psychoanalysis at Trinity College and critical writing at Gorey School of Art; curating exhibitions, such as ‘Soul Beating’; and developing All or Nothing, a film about Irish art painting. He continues to write online and make video essays under the project titles ‘Madder Lake Editions’, ‘other glob’ and ‘dub sessions’ on his new blog: iamnotapainter.com. While Merrigan’s impulse towards particular strategies and writing styles have clearly not ended with Billion, there is something significant about the legacy of such an experimental moment, within the evolution of Irish arts criticism.
Chris Hayes is an Irish artist and critic currently living in London. rrreview.wordpress.com Notes
James Merrigan, ‘Matinee’, Billion Journal. 1 January 2017. billionjournal.com Chris Hayes, ‘The Art of Conversation’, interview with James Merrigan, Limerick Leader, 31 March 2016. rrreview.wordpress.com 3 Ibid. 4 James Merrigan,‘Liminal’s fine, but...’, Billion Journal, 12 July 2016. billionjournal.com 5 Rebecca O’Dywer, ‘Why Not Indeed?’, 12 July 2016. rebeccaodwyer.wordpress.com 6 Rebecca O’Dywer,‘Critical Bonds’,16 February 2017. rebeccaodwyer.wordpress.com 1 2
Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
Artist Publishing
Satirical Insurgence ANDY PARSONS AND GLENN HOLMAN DISCUSS THEIR RECENT ARTISTS’ BOOK, THE REBEL(S), PUBLISHED BY FLOATING WORLD.
A REBEL IS FREQUENTLY SEEN as a visionary; someone outside (or situated in opposition to) the established order. In the 1961 film The Rebel, Tony Hancock plays a downtrodden clerk who, though lacking any discernible talent, harbours the ambition to become a great artist. The film gently mocks the perceived pretentiousness and high ideals of the art world. In our new artist book, The Rebel(s), we pay tribute to the film, using its absurdist humour to investigate questions of critical importance within contemporary art. In particular we ask: what constitutes rebellion in an age when rebellion is viewed as an essential component of a credible arts practice? The book has involved the creation of a series of paintings and sculptures in Sligo and in London, and includes texts, interventions and documentation of performances. Given that the text takes the form of a series of email conversations, we wanted to discuss some of the book’s themes using a similar format. Andy Parsons: The Rebel(s) was the biggest and most complex publication developed in the 14-year history of Floating World. It was also the first time we asked someone else to do the printing and binding. Moving away from the cottage industry approach of making absolutely everything from scratch is a big departure for us, isn’t it? Glenn Holman: Yes. Although this approach actually made things a lot easier. While there were certain technical considerations in dealing with a professional printer, the actual design and format of the book was achieved using fairly standard InDesign software. Not having to factor in the binding of umpteen copies by hand gave us more freedom to concentrate on the content of the publication. I also like the fact that it is a limited-edition artwork masquerading as a hardback book. What I found interesting during the process was the geographical distance between us. With me being in the UK and you in Ireland, a lot of work (such as writing the dialogue and laying out the photographic work) had to be done via Skype, Dropbox and email correspondence. Curiously, I think the time-lag between our work schedules actually generated a more considered approach and contributed to the overall quality of the finished publication. AP: Despite the fact that we have made lots of unique art objects – paintings, sculptures, drawing, prints and so on – the final product is actually an endlessly reproducible multiple. I like this paradox. Creating another set of unique and limited-edition promotional material for the launch pushed this idea even further, while also subverting any perceived hierarchy regarding the status of particular art objects. That said, how on earth did it take us a year and a half to make The Rebel(s)?! GH: Well, there were a lot of false starts along the way before we could actually commence working on the book. As a critique of the art world, the original film is so strong and self-contained that using it as source material – without looking like a couple of ‘fan boys’ – was a real challenge. AP: Yes, I think the film has accrued an iconic status in the minds of many artists, which makes it hard to approach. There are many artworks that respond to existing works in other media, but often they don’t really add much to the original. I guess we wanted to make something celebratory, as well as something new. GH: A key approach was looking at the parallels of our own experiences as artists – such commonalities were frighteningly easy to find! As our book unfolds, the contemporary art world seems almost beyond parody in many ways. The book retains some of the deeply entrenched structures that are referenced in the film, regarding who holds the real power and influence. Generally, it isn’t the artists! AP: A key character in the 1961 film is the art connoisseur – a role that may have morphed into that of the contemporary curator in the intervening years – but many other elements are the same: the fluctuating tastes and trends of galleries, collectors and critics, as well as the boneheaded individualism of artists. I don’t think we would have been able to make this book earlier on in our careers, because it very much focuses on our experiences of trying to find a way through the art world. I think the book is
Andy Parsons and Glenn Holman, The Rebel(s), Private view scene with Hans and Charles; image courtesy the artists
celebratory and took a long time to make because we had to find ways of it being positive, rather than cynical. GH: Neither of us, at any point, wanted the content to come across as ‘anti-art’ or ‘anti-art world’. Certainly, we have a pop at certain things within the art world, but also some of the misconceptions surrounding contemporary art in wider society, particularly regarding how value is ascribed to the work of artists. Even then, we simply explore some of the more absurd episodes within our own careers and consider how they resonate with events in the film. Although the artist played by Hancock is obviously a satirical figure – evidenced through his self-delusion and hubris – most of the humour in the film is generated through the artist’s interactions with the wider world and the way his intentions are frequently misunderstood. He desperately wants to be part of the art world, but at the same time finds it baffling and incomprehensible. Such navigations and absurdities are at the core of this book. AP: We chose to re-enact scenes that we could identify with. For example, any gallery private preview one might attend offers such vast potential for misapprehensions and misinterpretations that the scenario lends itself very well to comedy! GH: Any interaction with another artist is an opportunity for comedy gold, but you’re right, the preview provides a set of circumstances that are ideal. Everyone is trying to be on their best behaviour and take an interest in the show, whilst also looking for any opportunity to advance their own careers! Coupled with an abundance of free wine, it’s guaranteed that something memorable will happen. This is one of the things that the film does so well: it magnifies the absurdity of a familiar situation without descending into complete farce. Even though the William Green ‘action painting’ pastiche seems ludicrous, it was so closely based on Pathé Newsreels of the 1950s that it could almost be perceived as a re-enactment. AP: It has been illuminating to consider rebellion and conformity through the lens of our own actions and relationships. I haven’t started making action paintings, but the work that I have made since developing the book is different somehow. It is freer, per-
haps because I feel less concerned with how it will be perceived. Do you feel that making a book about being (or not being) a rebel has changed your work? GH: More than I would have imagined. I don’t necessarily think I have addressed being or not being a rebel as such; rather, my new work considers the concept of being (or not being) an artist. Investigating our place within the art world, through the lens of the film’s absurdist humour, has brought clarity to a range of thoughts that I have been harbouring for some time. I have spent more than 30 years defending a particular view of art that I, through making the book, have come to accept as untenable. This has prompted the emergence of a strange dichotomy within my practice, which has become simultaneously more serious, yet increasingly frivolous. I think it will be really fascinating to explore these ideas in greater depth through ‘The Rebel(s) Days’ project that we have planned for 2018.
Floating World was initiated in 2003 by Glenn Holman and Andy Parsons. The publishing project facilitates artists to disseminate their ideas widely using artists books – a medium that can often be a catalyst for complex participatory projects. Published by Floating World, The Rebel(s) is a 128-page hardback book, part of an edition of 100 copies, signed and numbered by the artists. floatingworldbooks.com
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Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
Artist Publishing
Ben Weir, The Claw, 2017; 35mm black and white photograph
Building a Book BEN WEIR OUTLINES HIS RECENT BOOK, PUBLISHED IN RESPONSE TO URBAN REDEVELOPMENT IN BELFAST CITY CENTRE.
“The Claw is the blind performer It cannot speculate, judge Nor wince Steadfast Choreographed Dull acts Mechanised Strength Hastening Iconoclastic Labour Blunt-cleft Buildings open Exposing truths The Claw can’t read
Crimes in plain sight An austere vandal.”
ARCHITECTURE IS A DISCIPLINE. In this sense, verbal and written discourse, criticism, research and art production are all potential methods of practicing architecture, while contributing to the collective knowledge that shapes it as a discipline. Working both as a graduate architect and as a practicing artist, I use contemporary urban redevelopment as subject matter within my work, to cast light on the underlying conditions of the city – its constant struggles and reinventions. In my view, the city is a debate, a project, a living organism. The death of Modernism as an international architectural experiment, coincided with the rise of neoliberalism as the prevailing economic model in the West. As such, this was effectively the end of radical social missions in architecture. This era gave rise to buildings that do not generally respond to their loci, to history, culture, theory or technology, to the individual human experience nor the needs of a community. Instead, they are only assigned value as capital. This method of redevelopment eradicates the vernacular and tends toward an architecture of bland uniformity – something architect and writer Paul Shepheard calls a “flat sameness”. One of the main culprits of this tragedy is a method called ‘land assembly’. Land assembly procures large swathes of building plots from many different businesses and land owners, and combines them into one homogenous zone with a single owner. This is often disastrous for the historic urban grain of a city and even more detrimental for local and independent businesses. As well-known architect Adam Caruso states, “these developments constitute a serious erosion of democracy and of the public realm.”1 Land assembly in Belfast has happened most significantly with the construction of Castlecourt in the late 80s and with Victoria Square in the mid-2000s. These projects strike me as having nothing to do with architecture. They are, in my view, anti-placemaking, anti-contextual, anti-sustainable and anti-architecture. Any ‘architecture’ here is simply a tool for cloaking a department store in a steel and black glass facade (as is the case for Castle-
Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
Artist Publishing
Top and bottom: Ben Weir, Nothing is Sacred, Nothing is Safe from EVERYTHINGGETSTREATEDTHESAME/, 2017; p. 28 –31
court), or a fancy glazed roof and dome to cover pseudo-public streets (as is the case for Victoria Square). All too often, it seems that Belfast has no problem tearing down what is left of its historic fabric in favour of any kind of investment. The City Council seems to push tourism so hard, yet soon there may not be anything of worth left for tourists to visit. Architecture does not need to simply be a vessel for the profiteer, inclined towards private developers’ single-tracked minds. As a result, architecture either becomes complicit within this framework, or turns to something more introspective and self-critical. I self-published my book EVERYTHINGGETSTREATEDTHESAME/ as a call to arms and as a reactionary protest against the current situation of urban redevelopment in Belfast. The fact that my actions manifested themselves in the format of a book was purely consequential of my methodology. I did not set out to make a book, per se, but it became clear that a book format would be the most fitting way to collate a series of photographs and subsequent writings that I had been making over several months. The physical landscape of Belfast (as well as my daily routines within the city) was changing rapidly. Streets were slowly being pulled open, allowing light to grace surfaces it had never previously touched, while others were closed up like caverns. Opportunistically, I spotted an excavator (later to be dubbed ‘The Claw’) pulling down the remnants of a concrete frame. I climbed into demolition sites to photograph the rubble before it was dutifully cleared away. Most of the photographs – which were captured on an Ilford HP5 black and white disposable camera – did not have much individual merit. However, as my collection grew, I began to notice themes and avenues worth expanding upon. It was at that stage that I started writing and taking more photographs, with the specific intention of making the book. A large proportion of the demolition to date has been of noteworthy historic buildings, including three from the 1890s on North Street, and Commonwealth House on Castle Street. Meanwhile, Swanston’s Warehouse on Queen Street was being
Ben Weir, The Land, 2017; 35mm black and white photograph
gutted for façade retention and extension. These demolition projects were happening alongside the construction of student housing and large hotels. With the resurfaced and reprehensible plans for a new retail centre in the cultural hub of the Cathedral Quarter, the historic fabric of Belfast is about to be irreversibly changed.2 As a result, the book does have polemic and political intention and hints at some conclusions, but moreover these urban development projects form a context for the book to become something much more experiential. EVERYTHINGGETSTREATEDTHESAME/ imagines buildings as inhabitants of the city. It features buildings that have been destroyed, manipulated, exploited and left to rot, either intentionally or otherwise. The photographs presented in the book are not intended as documentation. They do not seek to aestheticise or fetishise construction sites, dereliction, ruin or ‘urban decay’. The book speculates – through personification – that if buildings had the capacity to dream or think self-reflexively, what sense would they make of their situation? It could be argued that the book centres thematically on the ‘death of buildings’, intended in both a metaphorical and literal sense, to address: what happens to the material of the city once deconstructed; and the politics and meaning of ‘reusing’ the urban artefact. I attempted to bring together these seemingly disparate narratives in order to find new meanings or understandings of the situation. In terms of the book’s objecthood, I intended to maintain an aesthetic in keeping with the content, while paying attention to the pace of information and images. The book suggests a sketchbook-style approach, with varying image sizes, drawings seemingly pasted-on, text running over images and images running off the page. Rather than presenting the writing and images in a specific sequence, I produced a digital ‘sketch’ version that was subject to various stages of refinement, as I began to structure the content using chapters and headings. The final layout was informed by discussions with a graphic designer friend who works at Two Digs (an independent design studio in Belfast). At this
point, we established a compositional grid and a set of formal rules to use – or consciously break – on each page. The use of perfect binding fulfilled my own ideas about how the finished book should look and feel. The decision to use digital print over lithograph was purely an economic one. I see the book as an artwork in itself. It was launched at Framewerk in Belfast, alongside a corresponding exhibition that contained fragments from the book. A public talk offered the opportunity to discuss the book’s themes and aimed to increase awareness about the bureaucracy that defines our built environment, while so heavily impacting on our lives within the city. Overall, my aspirations for the book are that people will value our cities and buildings as cultural artefacts, rather than as passive backdrops or profitable assets.
Ben Weir is an artist and Architecture graduate (RIBA Part II). He is currently based in Belfast, having completed his studies at the Glasgow School of Art. benweir.co.uk Notes
Adam Caruso, Quaderns (Barcelona, Spain: January 2001) Issue 228, p. 9. Formerly known as the Royal Exchange development.
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Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
Public Art
Louis Haugh, Ron teaching Louis to play the card game Don, 2017
Expanding Confines
LAURIE KILMURRY INTERVIEWS JENNY HAUGHTON, COORDINATOR OF THE GRANGEGORMAN PUBLIC ART PROGRAMME.
THE DISTRICT OF GRANGEGORMAN had, for a long time, been a kind of void in inner-city Dublin. Physically and psychologically walled off from its surroundings, the area retains the memories of the institutions that previously dominated it: the asylum, prison and workhouse. However, new developments are bringing about immense changes, including a public art strategy, entitled ‘… the lives we live’. Supported through Per Cent for Art funding arising from the redevelopment of Grangegorman, the wide-ranging programme comprises six ‘pathways’: major visual art commissions; community-based projects; a cultural mapping project; a ‘creative agents’ initiative; an international public art conference; and lending and acquisitions. Jenny Haughton is the Public Art Coordinator for the Grangegorman Development Agency. Having founded Temple Bar Gallery + Studios in 1983 and worked in public art for over twenty years, Jenny is an expert in centralising public art within shifting urban contexts. I spoke to Jenny about her unique approach to the Grangegorman initiative. Laurie Kilmurry: What were the motivations behind establishing the Grangegorman public art programme and who were the key players? Jenny Haughton: The Grangegorman Development Agency was set up to redevelop the grounds of St Brendan’s Psychiatric Hospital, so it’s in that context that an arts strategy was developed. Out of that came the setting up of a public art working group, comprised of the primary stakeholders: the HSE, DIT, and the community, in all its manifold parts. The public art strategy is integral to the development, recognising the value of the arts. LK: How did the name ‘...the lives we live’ come about? JH: It’s from a wonderful poem, Dreams of a Summer Night (2010), by Derek Mahon. At this point in time in the public art field, I don’t think it’s helpful to have an overarching theme. Ciarán Benson (chair of the public art committee) suggested this poem, which offers both narrative and context, without dictating or restricting artistic practice.
LK: Did you feel pressure to have a theme? JH: Other projects often have a spin that holds things together. But in reality, I think public art is more a constellation of acts. The philosopher Jacques Rancière believes that there’s an energy and vitality in the daily lives of people. So perhaps it’s better to draw out of the existing setting, rather than bring something external in. LK: How does that relate to the structure of the programme’s different ‘pathways’? JH: The pathways came out of research and also from an understanding of the socioeconomic dynamic of the area. They relate to the architectural master plan designed by James Mary O’Connor. It’s in the shape of a hand, so fingers run through the arts strategy, but from a humane perspective. While building is about bricks and mortar, the arts are about humanity. LK: Contemporary public art practices are increasingly underpinned by wide-ranging theoretical perspectives. Is the Grangegorman programme guided by any particular theoretical frameworks? JH: I’m familiar with theoretical writing on public art, by people like Grant Kester and Mary Jane Jacob, and with public art programmes around Ireland, of course. However, this particular project is about carefully considering every aspect, to open up space for thinking. I don’t know about frameworks – each artist has their own theoretical basis, informed by a range of ideologies. It’s about respecting that, within the constellation of other projects. The framework is effectively being made as we go. LK: You are public art coordinator, rather than commissioner or curator. How do you see your role? JH: The role of an art coordinator requires traversing levels and disciplines, and that suits me down to the ground. Quite often, artists are curators anyway and a lot of these projects are
Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
Public Art
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Top: Trish McAdam, CONFINEMENT, in production (for completion in 2018), animation still
Far left: Brian Cregan, Glass Gardens, 2017; portrait by participant at the photography department, DIT, Grangegorman
Near Left: Bernie Masterson, Paul's Cutlery; photograph by Bernie Masterson
self-driven. Much of the work is very practical, such as contracts and goal-setting, but really, it’s about working together and seeing how we can maximise what people are doing. I think it’s a freer role than, say, public art officers in local authorities. I have a different relationship with each project. LK: The open call process for selecting artists is interesting. Could you explain why this process was developed and how it works? JH: Non-hierarchical juries have been drawn from across the stakeholder cohort, so these panels are always different. They make their deliberations and present them to the public art working group and the board. We’ve had eight juries comprising 40 different stakeholders, known and recognised in their field, who have made recommendations. They’re not just selecting artists; they’re assessing the ways in which the artist works with the community. This process was perhaps developed in reaction to the curatorial approach; assessing relationships between people requires more than curatorial skills. LK: The changes taking place in Grangegorman are significant and dramatic. Is ‘...the lives we live’ responsive to these changes or more focussed on preserving what is about to be changed? JH: This whole sea change going on in Grangegorman is just huge, even outside of what the agency is doing. I don’t think it’s about preserving – archaeologists preserve. Some of the stakeholders have wanted to brush the area’s history under the carpet, but we know that’s not how artists work. We have to accept, to learn, and to fully accommodate artists who want to work in this way. There’s a rush to build, to get new services up and out, and I can understand that, but this shouldn’t be at the expense of history. LK: Are some of the works developed in direct response to this history? JH: Wear a Bonnet, an initiative by Christina Henri, to acknowledge women who were shipped off to Australia in their thousands, raised quite a lot of interest. We’ve tended to be a little bit subversive when it comes to history. It’s not about everything being within the walls; it’s about identifying what we can support that will have national interest or get the word out. LK: Is this advocacy part of the aim to transform Grangegorman as ‘both an idea and a place’?
JH: Yes, you might not realise, but people of my generation were threatened with being ‘sent to Grangegorman’ if we were bold at home. So that was very much in the psyche and we have to break such preconceptions. LK: Much of this work would be categorised as socially-engaged practice. What are your views on this label? JH: The term is more of a disabler rather than an enabler. In my view, any practice is socially engaged in some form or fashion, be it politically or emotionally, but it’s the quality of this engagement that’s important. It’s a label we have avoided using; language can be very restrictive, and has to be generated through practice. Justine McDonnell’s performance work, Breaking the Rule of Silence, is socially engaged – it deals with the history of women’s inequality. At the same time, Alan Phelan was working on his project, The Possibility of an Archive, and it was absolutely addressing the categorisation of people, so in another way tackling inequality. Rancière would say there are many approaches to looking at society and I’d agree with him on that point. LK: Are there works underway that explore Grangegorman society? JH: As part of his work, One Hour Archive, Louis Haugh has been working with a group of people known as the Tuesday Club, who get together to knit or just talk. Going back 50 years, these were young mothers and they used to knit every single thing for their babies. This meeting provides a vehicle for discussion about their lives, so it’s an artist just listening, drawing out and being a point of interest for a group of people, and it has worked very well. We know that there’s a great warmth in the relationships that have been built, so outputs are almost immaterial at this stage. But it’s a model that emphasises the fact that when artists are suitably paid for their work, they will find their place in society – or out of society, whichever. LK: So no formal evaluation process? JH: We might have to commission a more formal independent evaluation in the future, but every engagement with an artist or community has its own social evaluations based on artistic objectives. I’m quite sure some people in the community are already evaluating us and I hope that’s the case. We do have very clear objectives – that the work is artistically ambitious and relevant.
LK: Do you see the project as having a final resolution? JH: If we have increased the capacity of people to think and speak and to live in relation to creativity and the arts, then we’ve achieved a lot. We need to be part of this process of emancipation. It happened a little at our public seminar – it was really local people conducting the conversation. I think we could have left the room and people would still be getting on. That was a good moment.
For more information on the Grangegorman public art programme, visit: ggda.ie/public_art Laurie Kilmurry is an interdisciplinary artist, writer and arts manager, currently based in Yorkshire. Jenny Haughton has worked as an independent curator in the public art field for over 20 years. She founded Temple Bar Gallery + Studios and established Artworking to manage contemporary projects in the public realm throughout Ireland.
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Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
Public Art
(Tree) House Music CHRISTOPHER STEENSON INTERVIEWS ROBIN PRICE ABOUT HIS ENVIRONMENTALLY-THEMED PUBLIC ART INSTALLATION, AUTOMATED BIRD RAVE GENERATOR. Wheelworks rang me and asked if I would like to do something similar with them. The Ulster Wildlife Trust were involved along with the Bloomsfield Community Group as they run two youth groups respectively which teamed together for the project. Jess from the Ulster Wildlife Trust was really fun to work with and gave me copious notes on which birds were likely to be found in the park as well as a bird spotting tour of the park. For the first week of the project, the children and I played about with a digital light painter and made long exposure photographs of bird drawings the children made to introduce the avian techno(logy) theme. The following week I ran a sound recording workshop where we walked around the park at dusk and recorded as many bird sounds as we could find. I turned those sounds into strange loops in my studio and gave them back to the children to arrange in GarageBand, completing the ‘bird techno’ phase. I had to leave for a residency after that, but the children spent an extra week drawing designs for the birdhouse enclosure with another artist, Sinéad Owens. I then laser-cut these designs in acrylic to decorate the final piece. Wheelworks are really good to work with, because they always budget for backup artists to help facilitate a project.
Robin Price, Automated Bird Rave Generator, 2017
Christopher Steenson: What exactly is an Automated Bird Rave Generator and how does it work? Robin Price: The Automated Bird Rave Generator is a solar-powered, outdoor cuckoo clock, but this particular cuckoo clock wakes up on the hour, every hour, to play ‘bird techno’ (but only during business hours, so it doesn’t upset the neighbours). The ‘bird techno’ in question consists of local birdsong that was recorded by the children from the Bloomsfield Community Group and myself. The recordings were manipulated into rhythmic loops in my music studio and then made into songs by the children. This particular Automated Bird Rave Generator is intended to highlight the effects of pollution on the environment. The bird techno played by the birdhouse responds to the environment via sensors that detect changes in temperature and pollution levels of the river beside where the piece is installed. The river’s temperature controls the speed – and therefore the pitch – of the music. When the water is cold during the winter, the music slows down and is lower in pitch. In the summer months, the music speeds up and is higher in pitch. The birdhouse also detects the electrical conductivity of the water, which varies with tide and pollution levels. The total dissolved salts in the water controls a glitch effect that is applied to the music. As pollution levels rise, the amount of glitch effect is increased. CS: You worked with Wheelworks Youth Arts, the Ulster Wildlife Trust and the children from the Bloomsfield Community Group in east Belfast. How were both of these groups involved in the formation of the work? RP: I went to the Wheelworks Youth Arts open day when they unveiled their new ArtCart project bus. The ArtCart is a mobile project space inside a bus that Wheelworks use for running digital art workshops with kids around Northern Ireland. I told them about a project I was putting in for funding to make an outdoor sound installation that responded to environmental sensor data and that funding never came through for it. A few months later
CS: How did you approach developing workshops for children on this theme? RP: It was really hard. I hadn’t worked with such young children or such large groups before this project. I learned that kids can smell fear, so you need a plan B, C, D and E when working with eight year olds. There’s a tendency to treat activities like a race if they’re not sufficiently engaged, so you have to keep things in reserve if they finish an activity early. When workshops went well, I left with a massive buzz, but if the kids got bored (listening back to sound recordings kind of sucked), then I felt deflated. The biggest problem was that the project was quite experimental and fiddly to make. It was something of an abstract concept for the kids to understand until it was finally placed in front of them. Community art can be like a Venn diagram, with the community group’s interests in one circle, your funder’s aims in another and your own in a third. It’s sort of left up to you to move your circle about until you find the overlap. It’s not something I’m expert in, but I think it’s a worthwhile process. CS: This piece combines aspects of sound installation, music and environmental information (such as ambient temperature and pollution levels). Why are you interested in combining such elements in this way to make art? RP: All my work has involved translating sensor data into some kind of audiovisual response. For example, a few years ago, I made a full-size, light-up, musical ping-pong table. It was really popular, but I felt like it was just spectacle with no real concept – which is cool, but I wanted my work to draw from ideas outside itself. I decided to shift the focus of the sensors away from people to their effect on the environment as a way of engaging with the Anthropocene as a subject matter. CS: Can you discuss any other environmentally-themed projects you’ve been involved in? RP: I have an ongoing project that visualises air pollution levels using long exposure photography at various locations around the world including Ireland, Wales, India, Mexico and Kenya. The more pollution particles detected, the more points of light are drawn onto the final photograph. The idea was to try and visualise these hazardous invisible particles as if they’d been illuminated and blown up under a microscope. The project involved a series of collaborations with different environmental scientists following my residency at Birmingham Open Media (BOM) lab, which specialises in art-science technology crossovers. I initially partnered with an environmental scientist at Birmingham University, Dr Francis Pope, who shared
my love of ambient music and early drum and bass. We worked together on another project that took real-time data from the university’s forestry research experiments and translated it into ambient music and visuals in BOM’s basement gallery. CS: Do you have plans to further develop the ideas and technology of the Automated Bird Rave Generator? Are there other projects in the pipeline? RP: I’m currently developing projects for PS2 gallery and the Arts Council Northern Ireland (ACNI) to advance my research on building solar-powered sound art generators for public spaces. The artwork for PS2 will sit on top of their pixelated shipping crate in Peas Park in North Belfast. PS2 curator and director Peter Mutschler wants the artwork to measure and respond to “the joy in the air”, which I think is a beautiful concept, but hard to translate into reality. I’m playing with geo-located twitter metrics to try and assess the public mood in Belfast using crude word counts. There are companies doing similar kinds of sentiment analysis professionally, but I’m just mucking about with Python code and feeding the results into Pure Data (which is a graphical programming environment often used for interactive sound design). The project for ACNI is a collaboration with Millennium Court Arts Centre and Oxford Island nature reserve. It will make music in response to weather data and the ever-fluctuating bird populations in the area. CS: Have you considered how other birds around Belfast might react to hearing the ‘bird techno’ generated by your installations? Other artists have previously used sound to affect birds’ natural habitats – I’m thinking of American composer David Dunn, who played electronic tones to mockingbirds to see if they would mimic them.1 RP: This is something I’m sort of worried about. A lot of birdsong that we perceive as being really beautiful is birds telling each other to fuck off and staking out their territory. This is especially true for robins – they’re very aggressive. The music made by the Bird Rave Generator only plays for a few minutes every hour, so I don’t think they’ll be too affected by it. The Ulster Wildlife Trust didn’t seem too concerned and I defer to their greater wisdom on these matters. Also, the birdsong I use is often slowed down or re-pitched, so the birds might not recognise themselves in the music when they hear it. I tested the installation in my backyard for two months and the local pigeons basically ignored it. CS: As a final question: if birds really do listen to techno, what do you think their favourite ‘sky filler’ is? RP: I like to think that the starlings that murmur around the Albert Bridge in the evening are tumbling in tune with James Holden’s A Break in the Clouds.
Christopher Steenson is a sound artist and the Production Editor for the Visual Artists’ News Sheet. Robin Price is a digital artist and electronic musician. robinprice.net Note 1
David Dunn, Mimus Polygottos, 1976.
Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
Organisation Profile
Remote Resource NUALA CLARKE REPORTS ON THE BALLINGLEN ARTS FOUNDATION, COUNTY MAYO, CURRENTLY CELEBRATING ITS 25TH YEAR.
CROSSING THE NARROW, one-car-wide Palmerstown Bridge, I feel as if I am crossing into another world. Past the hills of field patterns, the sea and Downpatrick Head come into view. Following the steep incline towards Ballycastle town, another hill rises up as a backdrop. On the right is a deep blue building with stone steps; I am once again at Ballinglen Arts Foundation. The distinctive, unique smell of wood, paint and turf greets me at the door. In 2007, I arrived from New York as a new fellow at Ballinglen, where I lived and worked in residence for the month of September. I returned frequently over the years, eventually relocating to Ballycastle in January 2013. The Ballinglen Arts Foundation was founded in 1992 by Philadelphia-based art dealers Margo Dolan and Peter Maxwell. Their impetus came from an abiding love and deep appreciation of north Mayo, Ballycastle and the local community. The aim was to bring professional, established and emerging artists of recognised ability, from Ireland and abroad, to live and work in north Mayo, in a way that would benefit both the artists and the community. The centre was developed slowly, initially inviting one or two artists and their families for long residencies, using the vacated primary school classrooms as studios and local cottages as homes. Sculptor Bill Freeland and painter Magda Vitale, as well as Sam Gilliam and his partner, were some of the first artists to spend significant time living and working in Ballycastle. From the beginning, Ballinglen not only allowed but encouraged families and friends to come with artists or to visit them. Arrangements are often made for school-age children to enrol in the local schools. As a result, almost 4000 visitors spend time in Ballycastle each year, providing direct socio-economic benefit to this rural community. The new two-storey Foundation Building – designed by Peter Maxwell and completed in 1996-97 – houses the administrative offices and studios. A series of buildings, in keeping with the architectural style of Main Street, creates a striking and memorable environment. The attention to detail and materials used set up an aesthetic entirely conducive to creativity. Each visiting artist is assigned a studio in the building. There are four functionally designed studios on the top floor, with skylights allowing plenty of natural light. At the end of the corridor, there is a sunroom, otherwise known as the drawing porch, offering views of the sweep to the sea, which never fails to enrapture. The print studio on the ground floor, again lit with natural light and insulated with wood cladding, is a well-equipped and gorgeous space to work in. Housing a significant collection of art and design books, the Dolan/Maxwell Library is a warm and quiet nook overlooking the street, which is perfect for research and creative centring. A vernacular courthouse, owned and renovated by the foundation, functions as the Ballinglen Gallery. The latest addition to the centre is a large workshop area in the garden, used for masterclass, workshops and other group learning activities. Ballinglen is governed by a board of directors comprising seven members from arts and business fields. The organisation is funded by the Irish Arts Council, Mayo County Council and private national and international donations. In 2013, due to funding cuts, Ballinglen began offering a two-week-long masterclass with painters Randall Exon and Jeffrey Reed. This has since evolved into a year-long programme of workshops taught by Ballinglen Fellows that attracts learners from around the world. The centre is staffed by two full-time local employees: Una Forde, Managing Director; and Christine Tighe, Buildings and Accounts Supervisor. Six participants from the Rural Social Scheme are involved in the upkeep and day-to-day running of the facilities and cottages. Three volunteers were in attendance in 2017, including a library archivist who documented the donation by President Mary Robinson and Nick Robinson of their art book collection. Ballinglen Fellows are given cottages for living and purpose-built studios for working which are free of any charges during their first visit. Fellows are encouraged to experience the local rural community, its churches, shops, pubs and its people. The founders believed that this kind of interaction “invigorates the spirit”, reminding us of what it is “to be a human being”. They found the landscape and weather uniquely inspiring and the community, equally so. A major component of the Fellowship Programme is each artist’s exploration of the north Mayo region. Each Ballinglen Fellow, as a condition of their first four to six-week residency, gifts a piece of work to the Ballinglen Archive. This work is regularly displayed throughout the building – in the Common Room, offices
and hallways – and is occasionally exhibited in other venues. For example, over 40 artworks from the Ballinglen Archive collection will be presented at the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA), Dublin, from 18 January – 19 March 2018. Residencies are awarded to visual artists throughout the world with professional standing in their fields (painting, printmaking, drawing, photography, sculpture) and emerging artists of recognised ability. A Fellowship Residency invitation is based on knowledge of the artist’s work and references. The residency application process is straightforward, and details are available on the Ballinglen website. No particular style is sought, as evidenced by the works in the archive, and the Foundation makes no creative demands upon residents, who are free to work in whatever way they wish. In my experience – and based on many discussions with new residents over the years – we cannot help being taken over by the environment. On a soft day, with mist on the hill, I think of one artist’s work, while the crashing waves and windblown days remind me of another. My practice is driven by abstraction and the things that are intrinsically known, but remain unseen. I find sympathetic companions among the new and returning residents of Ballinglen. It is a unique situation to be in: both out in the most remote environment, yet in a creative hub of process and activity. Working in close collaboration with the area’s national and secondary schools, as well as third level institutions, the foundation has developed a successful Schools Programme. I have taken on the role of Education Facilitator in the last few years. Each year, over twenty classes from local schools come to Ballinglen for a day of hands-on art-making and tours of the gallery and studios. As a resident, I looked forward to visits from these small, honest, engaged and curious children. I believe that it is important for children to see artists at work – it opens possibilities for them. This year, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Ballinglen Arts Foundation, we are exhibiting prints made by the 450 school children who visited in 2017. On 2 December we open the doors to the community, offering events such as craft workshops and studio tours with the five current visiting artists. A relatively new programme of week-long workshops for Top: Randall Exon, Margo Dolan, 1999; oil on canvas adults has been organised by The Artist in Rural Ireland Fund for the last four years. These are led Bottom: Professor Randall Exon in Ballinglen Art Reference Library by internationally renowned artists who are fellows of the foundation, offering access to quality shortterm education. Details of the 2018 workshop programme are available at: ballinglenworkshops.com. Ballinglen is a valuable part of the thriving visual arts com- ists who are members of the RHA. You may purchase tickets to munity of Mayo – a county replete with many resident artists, a have a chance of winning a painting by one or more leading Irish strong and innovative County Council Arts Office and a network artists. All proceeds from ticket sales go toward construction and of art centres that communicate well with each other. The Mayo every cent is needed: ballinglenmuseumfundraiser.weebly.com. Arts Collaborative consists of: Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar; Custom House Gallery, Westport; Áras Inis Gluaire, Belmullet; Ballinglen Arts Foundation; and Ballina Arts Centre. In 2016 Catherine Marshall curated the exhibition ‘Kathleen Lynn: In- Nuala Clarke is an Irish visual artist who relocated from sider on the Outside’ which ran concurrently in the five venues New York to Ballycastle in 2013. listed, displaying work by 13 contemporary Irish artists. Ballinglen plans to add another facet to its operation and has obtained planning permission for the construction of the Museum of Contemporary Art at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation. Ballinglen received a grant of €200,000 under the Rural Town & Regeneration Scheme and will begin in early 2018 with the demolition of an adjacent derelict building and the construction of a two-storey museum on Main Street in Ballycastle. It will consist of an exhibition space, education centre, print gallery, archive and meeting rooms. The museum will house the 630 works in the Ballinglen Archive and will ensure that the collection can be permanently available for the viewing public and for curatorial purposes. On 22 January 2018 at 2pm there will be a fundraising draw to match the funds awarded by the Regeneration Scheme. All work in the draw has been donated by Ballinglen Fellow art-
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Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
Organisation Profile
Rosa Barba, Outwardly from Earth's Center, 2007, 16mm film transferred to digital, color, sound, 22 min; film still © Rosa Barba
Where History Begins Again
ALAN PHELAN TALKS TO MARY CREMIN ABOUT HER NEW ROLE AS DIRECTOR OF VOID, DERRY.
ODD AS IT SOUNDS, there is something slightly Scandinavian about Derry. Maybe it’s post-conflict Northern Ireland and the almost socialist democratic prosperity that peace has brought to the region. Industry may not have taken off just yet, but public services appear to be well-funded. The abundance of cultural centres is also mirrored by a bemusing abundance of hair salons – something that is comparable with Helsinki. Perhaps the harsh northerly climate brings with it serious approaches to both art and hair care. Derry’s various galleries inhabit historic spaces, yet have a very contemporary outlook that draws big names to this small city. I recently visited Mary Cremin, the newly appointed director of Void, to discuss her new role and her future ambitions for the gallery. Alan Phelan: After many years working as an independent curator (and in a variety of administrative positions across the Irish art scene) how different is it to finally be a director? What challenges are you currently facing that really excite or terrify you? Mary Cremin: There is great freedom in being an independent curator, but the downside is the precariousness of funding to realise your projects. As a director there is greater security, which I appreciate. It is also great to have a team to work with on building a vision for the gallery. There is also the excitement and freedom that comes with having a gallery to develop over time. The really big challenge at the moment are the unknowns surrounding Brexit and what impact this will have on arts organisations and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland (ACNI) over the next two to five years and beyond. So, the concerns surrounding precarious funding arise again. I think what is particularly challenging in the arts is that we have to consistently justify what we do and why it is important. Visual literacy in contemporary art is relatively low in Ireland and Northern Ireland; that is why our engagement through education is so integral to the gallery, as this is how we can expand visual literacy in the future. It is also an imperative for helping govern-
ment understand the benefits of the visual arts within a wider definition of culture. What is both exciting and terrifying at the same time is the responsibility of a gallery team and how to develop and grow an arts organisation that is provocative, relevant and sustainable. AP: You have a large capacity for stress; nothing ever seems to phase you – I have witnessed this firsthand, in the many different jobs you have taken on over the years. Now that you can determine the consensus, call the shots and be in charge, what kind of things do you want to do or change? MC: Void has an excellent reputation both nationally and internationally, so I will build on that with further dynamic collaborations with institutions and galleries. I will expand the off-site programme, as I quite enjoy the complexities of working in the public realm. We are currently working with CCA to develop a public commission on Derry City Walls for the Walker Plinth – the base of a column erected in 1827 that once held a statue, but was destroyed in the 1970s. The site is symbolically important, and it could potentially be a means of activating the walls and creating a more contemporary context for the plinth. We will be working with the artist Liam Crichton through ACNI’s Artists Career Enhancement Programme, which mentors professional artists in 2018. There are new artists studios opening in Derry, so Void will play an active role in supporting them. AP: Void got its name after Orchard Gallery closed and left the city without a signature contemporary art space. Since then, the city has been home to various art spaces, including the Context Gallery (which later became CCA), and has even hosted the Turner Prize in 2013. How do you envisage Void continuing to draw on the city’s rich appetite for contemporary art? MC: I am interested in how galleries like Void can perform on this global stage, while operating in the periphery. Each city is a microcosm reflecting on the larger picture, so, while what we do
Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
Organisation Profile
Top: Installation view, 'Where History Begins', 2017, Void, Derry; image by Paola Bernardelli
Bottom left and right: Rosa Barba, Disseminate and Hold, 2016, 16mm film transferred to digital, sound, 21:13 min; film stills © Rosa Barba
will continue to be outward-looking, it will reflect back on Derry and Northern Ireland. With Brexit, the question over Northern Ireland’s border remains central to how this exit from the EU will be framed. There is a lot of cross-border activity where Derry is located and so this discussion has a huge impact on how the city can function post-Brexit. Northern Ireland could potentially no longer have access to the free circulation of artworks throughout Europe, so this will have huge repercussions for Void’s audiences and exhibition programmes. It is an interesting time to be in Northern Ireland and with that comes challenges, but I think Void can contribute to these conversations by occupying a space that is simultaneously local, national and international. AP: Void’s learning programme, ‘Void Engage’, is a well-developed and participatory strategy for the gallery. Do you have a feel for how you want to develop it, and do you have any plans for connecting south of the border? MC: ‘Void Engage’ has a very active audience and is really well tied in with exhibitions. It is integral to what we do. In order to expand it, we will have a new programme inviting artists, curators, writers, and critics to give talks. Void previously had an art school, so we would like to reactivate this discursive element, because it is so essential for a vibrant arts community. I have very strong relationships south of the border, so I do plan to connect with different organisations. For example, we will be collaborating next year with the Douglas Hyde Gallery. I intend to develop stronger relationships with the art colleges there too, as I think Derry has really strong visual arts infrastructure and has a lot to offer students. It would be great to have more active conversations between the north and the south. AP: You have a broad knowledge of contemporary art, with a particular passion for video and moving image work. This is evident in your first exhibition at Void, which had a super lineup. Can you discuss what kind of work you want to show in the gallery in the future?
MC: I see my first three exhibitions as a trilogy relating to the past, present and future. I was thinking about the complex history of Derry, so that’s how I developed ‘Where History Begins’ (28 October – 16 December). I was thinking about material culture and how that informs our cultural history. I have borrowed artefacts that span from the Neolithic era to the plantation period, with the aiming of connecting with the topics addressed in the films presented, while also broadening the definitions of what local history can be. I wanted to look at contemporary politics more specifically with the next exhibition, ‘Everyday Words Disappear’ (3 February – 10 March 2018), which will present the work of Belgian artist Johan Grimonprez. His recent film, Blue Orchids (2016), deals with the arms trade and relates back to Raytheon – an arms manufacturer based in Derry that closed in 2010, due to mounting pressure from local protesters. Grimonprez’s work also addresses topical ideas relating to fake news that are so prevalent within the current political global arena. The final exhibition in the trilogy, ‘Between Objects in the Waking World’ (24 March – 12 May 2018) will present the work of Berlin-based Italian artist, Rosa Barba, which is situated between experimental documentary and fictional narrative. The works selected address the corrupted relationship between man and the machine, which for me, really reflects this position of ‘unknowing’ that we currently find ourselves in. 2018 will mark the 50th anniversary of the 1968 civil rights movement in Derry. This historical moment continues to define the contemporary, through its political and cultural imagination. Void will commission a series of new works to explore the role of female activists and workers who were central to that movement, while examining their impact on Derry today. I am interested in how these new artworks can provide fresh readings, opening up new notions of history. What I would really like to achieve is to slow down the exhibition-making process. Having the time to develop exhibitions alongside artists, would allow for more diversions and conversations to develop, while offering greater engagement on all levels.
Alan Phelan is an artist who lives and works in Dublin. alanphelan.com
Mary Cremin is the newly appointed director of Void, Derry. She is also curator of two exhibitions, ‘Then & Now’ and ‘Promised Paradise’, as part of Galway 2020.
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Public Art Roundup
Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
ART OUTSIDE OF THE GALLERY
All Bread is Made of Wood: This Dirt
Peregrinus
Artists: Fiona Hallinan and Sabina MacMahon Work title: All Bread is Made of Wood: This Dirt Site: Swords Castle Date carried out: 29 August 2017 Commission Type: Local Authority Commissioning Body: Fingal Arts Office Budget: €16,000 Project Partners: UCD School of Archaeology
Artist: Cecilia Bullo Work title: Peregrinus Site: St Mary’s Anglican Church, Carlow town Commissioning body: Siteworks 2017 Date advertised: March 2017 Date sited: June 2017 Budget: €1200 Commission type: Temporary, site-specific artwork Project Partners: Carlow Arts Festival 2017, Carlow County Council Arts Office
Description: This Dirt was the first public iteration of ‘All Bread is Made of Wood’, an ongoing public art project devised and curated by Anne Mullee for Caroline Cowley, Fingal County Council’s Public Art Coordinator. Fiona Hallinan and Sabina MacMahon were invited to contemplate bread and its elements as a vehicle for the transference of knowledge and memory, as embodied in its production. The project is composed of a series of private and public interactions, working with an African women’s group, Nwannediuto, the area’s older population, and UCD’s School of Archaeology. This Dirt brought together aspects of food production from North County Dublin’s past and present, utilising Swords Castle as a catalyst for exploration. Fiona Hallinan produced Seed Carriers, two works responding to the 1000-year-old grains found at the castle, which explored hand gestures and possible medieval foodstuffs, while MacMahon introduced the little-known Italian Futurist and Irish migrant Ermengildo Cervi, in her installation, Anti anti-pasta. The inaugural event took place during Swords Castle’s annual Environmental Day, in collaboration with Dr Meriel McClatchie of UCD’s School of Archaeology and the ‘Swords: Digging History’ project.
Description: Peregrinus was a temorary public artwork that responded to the story of a peregrine falcon that nested in the belfry of St Mary’s Anglican Church in Carlow town. Clearing the belfry of unwanted pigeons, the arrival of the falcon at the church led to some addressing it as a ‘miracle’. As a part of Carlow Arts Festival 2017, Cecilia Bullo drew on elements of this story to stage a display of several elements that investigated how stories evolve and mythologies are created. A fluorescent yellow peregrine flacon. made of amulet resin, was placed at the base of the belfry at St Mary’s Church, whilst an accompanying sound installation played the call of the flacon at intermitent times. During the installation period, an ad was placed in a local newspaper displaying the words: “Have you seen this falcon?”, along with a phone number so that people could share information with the artist. Interviews with the community were also conducted in collaboration with researchers from Bird Watch Ireland, and the Regional Veterinary Laboratories of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, which offered insights into the life and death of this rare and protected species of bird.
Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
Public Art Roundup
HEAR YOUS
Weeping Window
Artists: UMBRELLA Work title: HEAR YOUS Site: Cathedral Quarter, Belfast Date carried out: 22 September 2017 (Culture Night Belfast)
Artists: Paul Cummins and Tom Piper Work title: Weeping Window Site: Ulster Museum, Belfast Commissioning body: The '14-18 NOW' programme Date sited: 14 October – 2 December 2017 Commission type: Touring public artwork Project Partners: National Museums NI, Belfast International Arts Festival
Description: UMBRELLA is a Belfast-based sound art collective that formed in the summer of 2017. The collective aims to promote arts practices related to sound, listening and aural environments. The collective had their first public engagement at Culture Night Belfast in September 2017. The event, HEAR YOUS, presented new audio work by seven sound artists. These works were performed in a moving concert around the city’s Cathedral Quarter, with sounds amplified using four handheld megaphones. The programme featured a variety of approaches to audio amplification in public spaces. Elen Flügge’s promenade performance through ‘The Belfast Entries’ explored the acoustics of the city’s historical alleyways with the sounds of harmonic drones. Aidan Deery conjured the sounds of shipping bells, recalling a lost soundscape of sailing vessels on the since culverted River Farset (now High Street). Richard Davis and Liam McCartan presented instrumental and electronic compositions over the megaphone-array, proposing alternative sound stages or musical listening in the open spaces of Bridge Street and Donegal Street. Other works used the megaphones to project voices: Andrew Harrison’s announcements for alternative public transport services; John D’Arcy’s mash of policies on public art and historical building maintenance; and Una Lee’s fleeting song, follow me.
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Description: The ceramic poppy sculpture Weeping Window by artist Paul Cummins and designer Tom Piper was installed at the Ulster Museum, Belfast, from 14 October to 2 December as a part of a UK-wide tour organised by 14-18 NOW (the UK’s arts programme for the First World War centenary). Weeping Window is one of two sculptures taken from Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red – an artwork that was originally installed at the Tower of London in 2014. As installed at its Belfast location, Weeping Window consisted of thousands of handmade ceramic poppies that cascaded down the side of the Ulster Museum building. The artwork aimed to reflect on and mark the great loss of life that occured during the First World War. Despite the contentious nature of the poppy (as a symbol of the Birtish army) within Northern Ireland, a record 25,000 people visited the museum to see the installation first-hand. The tour of the artwork will continue into 2018 throughout the UK.
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Opportunities
Open Calls
SOLAS NUA EXHIBITION, WASHINGTON DC Solas Nua, in collaboration with Dupont Underground, Washington DC, is seeking submissions of contemporary Irish video art to be displayed as part of an exhibition at Dupont Underground during the period 12 – 31 March, 2018. 17 videos will be projected simultaneously on the walls of the tunnel each projected approx. 15 – 17 inches in width. The organisers are looking for video with and without audio as videos will be staggered between silent video and non-silent videos along the train tracks. Only Irish-born artists, or those resident in Ireland, are eligible. For submission, you should include the following information: artist/director information, including: full name, website URL, email address, a short biography (max. 200 words); film/video information: title (max. five works), a download link via WeTransfer, Vimeo or Dropbox, along with information on the year of production, duration and a work synopsis (max. 200 words/submission). Two screenshots for each submitted work should also be included (.jpg, minimum 800 x 600 pixels).
Residencies
Contact Jackie Hoysted, Director, Visual Arts, Solas Nua
PER CENT FOR ART, BRAY, WICKLOW Wicklow County Council are inviting national and international artists to develop proposals for a new site-specific artwork at the linear walkway, beginning at the Fran O’Toole Bridge, Bray, Co. Wicklow. The work will be sited within a new civic amenity that has been developed as part of the Flood Defence Scheme. The budget available to the successful artist or team for the project will be €65,000. The selection process will take the form of a one stage competition.The panel will be comprised of: Tim Austens (Landscape Architect), Liam Bourke (Senior Executive Engineer, Wicklow County Council), Des O’Brien (Wicklow County Council), Ruairi Ó Cuív (public art consultant), Jennie Guy (Curator/Project Manager), Eilís Lavelle, (Curator/Project Manager), Jacquie Moore (OPW), Aisling Prior (public art consultant) and an independent artist. There will be a site visit on 12 January 2018 from 11am until 12pm followed by a meeting in Bray Municipal Buildings from 12:15pm to 1:15pm. The meeting will give interested parties an opportunity to visit the site and to pose questions to a selection of Wicklow County Council staff and curators, Jennie Guy and Eilís Lavelle, who are project managing the commission on behalf of the County Council. Proposals to be submitted in soft-copy to the curators via email and in hard copy delivered to the address listed below.
Email jackiehoysted@gmail.com
Deadline 9 February 2018
Web solasnua.org dupontunderground.org
Email jennieguy@mac.com or eilislavelle@gmail.com
WESTPORT ARTS FESTIVAL 2018 Westport Arts Festival 2018 (WAF) is inviting expressions of interest from artists to deliver a public art project that reflects the relationship between Westport, Co. Mayo and Limavady, Causeway Coasts and Glens Borough, Northern Ireland. The format for the project, called ‘Where to Now’, will comprise of three gable-end murals. The project should be completed by September 2018 and should respond to the relationship between the communities of Wesport and Limavady during the recent period of conflict, the current time of peace, as well as having a vision of the future relationships between both communities in a post-Brexit context. As part of this work, artists should be open to a process of active engagement with community members, whose perspectives may inform the work. Expressions of interest from artists working both north and south are being sought. Expressions of interest, to include: examples of previous work; an artists CV and/or artists statement; any immediate ideas that you have for the project; and an outline budget to include artist fee and other costs. Information should be sent in a single PDF document to the email listed below. WAF will shortlist approximately 5 artists who will be invited to make more detailed proposals. A more detailed brief will be provided to stage 2 shortlisted artists.
FORM SCULPTURE EXHIBITION 2018 Applications are now open for artists to submit works for consideration for the 2018 ForM Sculpture Exhibition (2 – 24 June 2018). This outdoor sculpture exhibition takes place in Bangor Castle Walled Garden, Co. Down. Artists are invited to propose site-specific works, or work that responds to the environment of Bangor Castle Walled Garden. This year the following prizes will be awarded to selected artists voted for by Ards and North Down Borough Council’s Arts and Heritage Advisory Panel and a public vote: 1st Prize: One week residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Artist Retreat, Co. Monaghan; 2nd Prize: £200 worth of artist materials of your choice; 3rd Prize: £100 worth of artist materials of your choice. Submission forms and an artist’s brief can be obtained via the web at: ardsarts.com/downloads/ ForMApplicationPack2018.pdf or by emailing the address below.
Deadline 30 January 2018
Address Ards Arts Centre, Conway Square, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT23 4NP
Deadline 21 January 2018
Email info@westportartsfestival.com Web westportartsfestival.com
Visual Artists' News Sheet | January – February 2018
GRANTS, AWARDS, OPEN CALLS, COMMISSIONS
Address Eilís Lavelle/Jennie Guy, c/o Wicklow County Arts Office, Bray Municipal Buildings, Bray.
Deadline 1 March 2018, 12 noon Email arts@ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk Web ardsarts.com
Telephone 028 9181 0803
EUROPEAN MEDIA ART PLATFORM The European Media Art Platform offers residencies for media artists in the fields of digital media including internet and computer-based artists, filmmakers, and those working in media-based performance, sound or video, as well as robotics or bio-art. Artists with European residence or a European passport can apply for a two-months residency within April and August 2018 at one of the involved organisations in Linz, Liverpool, Zagreb, Helsinki, etc. Students are not eligible, but young artists are encouraged to apply. There is no age limit, however. Artist groups are welcome if they are willing to share the conditions, including the accommodation. EMARE includes: a grant of €3000; a project budget of €4000; free accommodation; travel expenses up to €500; free access to the technical facilities and media labs within the host institution; consultation with production and market experts and a professional presentation; and the option to participate in exhibition tours at our members’ festivals in 2018–21. All selected artists will be invited for a networking kick-off conference 23 – 25 March in Helsinki. Applications should be submitted online and must include a CV, (audio-)visual documentation and a preliminary plan or sketch of the proposed project to be developed within the EMARE programme.
SAC-FIC CURATORIAL RESIDENCY SAC-FIC Curatorial Residency Programme 2018 is the new residency programme at Barcelona’s Sant Andreu Contemporary and Fabra i Coats – Fabrica de Creació available to international curators. As part of the programme, there is an open call for proposals to choose an international curator who will be part of the Miquel Casablancas Prize for the Visual Arts jury in 2018. Curators will later develop a curatorial project with a selection of artists chosen from applicants to the prize. The project must be presented at the curator’s country of residence. The residency covers: the expenses for: jurying the prize; the curatorial proposal (€1700); the production of the exhibition (€2000); and accommodation and travel. The purpose of the open call is to offer the curator personal knowledge of the art context through involvement in the jury of the Miquel Casablancas Prize, and to foster, in the context of young art talent, future collaborations between local and foreign cultural actors. Deadline 20 January 2018 Web santandreucontemporani.org
Deadline 20 January 2018 Web call.emare.eu
A4 ARTIST IN RESIDENCE PROGRAMME A4’s mission is to transform the means by which cultural works are produced, accessed, and understood in Ireland, and, by doing so, to contribute to the development of a more just society. The A4 residency programme was established to offer selected artists the time, space, and facilities needed to develop their professional practice in a supportive environment, while furthering the mission of the studio through projects that focus on social and political issues relevant to Dorset Street and the surrounding areas of north inner-city Dublin. Two residencies are available each year. Residency 1 is from 5 March to 6 June 2018 (3 months), with exhibition dates from 7 to 17 June 2018. Residency 2 is from 11 June to 12 September 2018 (3 months), with exhibition dates from 13 to 23 September 2018. Exhibitions are encouraged but not a necessary outcome of the residency programme. There is no fee to take part in our residency programme. Unfortunately A4 are unable to offer an artist stipend or cover travel or accommodation costs for applicants. Applications will be accepted from artists working in the following disciplines: social practice, social justice, social intervention, socially-engaged, dialogical, participatory, critical thinking and research, activist, political, relational, community, collaborative art or new genre public art. Deadline 31 January 2018 Web a4sounds.org/artist-in-residence
Funding
ARTS COUNCIL PROJECT AWARDS The Arts Council offer Project awards in the following areas: arts participation; circus; dance; film; music; street arts and spectacle; traditional arts; and theatre. The Arts Council’s Project awards support specific project activities under each of the above artform/arts practice areas. The Visual Arts Project Award deadline is in August. The award guidelines for each award can be downloaded from the available funding section of the Arts Council’s website The award is open to individuals and organisations. However, organisations in receipt of grant funding for 2018 cannot apply. This means organisations in receipt of Strategic Funding, Venues Funding or Partnership Funding. Please note that you cannot make an application for both Project Funding and Arts Grant Funding in 2018. Deadline 15 February 2018, 5pm Web artscouncil.ie/available-funding
professional development Winter/Spring 2018
Republic of Ireland Dublin City COSTING & PRICING YOUR WORK with Patricia Clyne-Kelly Date/Time: Fri 23 Feb. 10:30 – 16:30. Location: Visual Artists Ireland Places/Cost: 10. €80/40 (VAI members). PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR MATURE ARTISTS In association with the Bealtaine Festival & the RHA 2 events in Spring 2018 and a seminar at the RHA in May
Kerry ART & ECOLOGY SEMINAR In association with Siamsa Tire, Tralee Date/Time: Sat 3 Mar. 10:30 – 16.30. Location: Visual Artists Ireland. Places/ Cost: 10 – 12. €80/40 (VAI members).
Laois ART & ARCHITECTURE SEMINAR In association with Dunamaise Arts Centre & Laois Arts Office Date/Time: Sat 10 Mar. 10:00 – 16:30. Location: Dunamaise Arts Centre. Places/Cost: 20 – 30. €30/15 (VAI members).
Northern Ireland WRITING ARTISTS' STATEMENTS with Joanne Laws In partnership with The Dock and Creative Frame Date/Time: Friday 16 Mar. 13:30 – 16:30 Location: The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon. Places/Cost: TBC. WRITING FUNDING APPLICATIONS with Annette Maloney In partnership with The Dock and Creative Frame Date/Time: Thursday 19 April. 10:00 – 16:00. Location: The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon. Places/Cost: TBC. Other winter regional events planned: Marketing & Social Media for Visual Artists Artist One-to-One Clinics – Legal, Financial & Career Advice Cataloguing & Archiving and Handling Your Work Child Protection Awareness Training Writing About Your Work Creative Proposals Creating Opportunities for your Work Peer Critique - Mixed Media with the RHA Creative Proposals Sustaining Your Practice Documenting Your Work Working with Digital Images Health & Safety for Visual Artists & Studio Groups Peer Critique – Sculpture/Installation with the RHA
Belfast VISUAL ARTISTS HELPDESK/ PROJECT CLINIC Date/Time: 17 Jan, 14 Feb, 14 March, 11 Apr, 16 May. 12:00 – 17:00. Location: Visual Artists Ireland NI. Places/Cost: 6. £5/FREE (VAI members). SPEAKING ABOUT YOUR WORK Date/Time: TBC Feb. Location: Belfast Exposed Gallery. Places/Cost: TBC.
Ards & North Down VISUAL ARTISTS’ CAFÉ – LET’S MAKE IT HAPPEN! Date/Time: Wed 24 Jan. 19:00 – 21:00. Location: Boom! Studios, Bangor. Places/Cost: 25. FREE. SMALL BUSINESS SKILLS with Liam McGarry Date/Time: 19 Feb. 18:00 – 21:00. Location: TBC. Places/Cost: TBC. ANBC Residents/VAI members £5. Visitors/Non-members £10.
Leitrim
WORKING WITH DIGITAL IMAGES Date/Time: 12 March. 18:00 – 21:00. Location: Sync Space, Bangor. Places/Cost: TBC. ANBC Residents/VAI members £5. Visitors/Non-members £10.
ARTIST'S SHOW AND TELL In partnership with The Dock and Creative Frame Date/Time: Friday 16 Mar. 10:00 – 12:30. Location: The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon . Places/Cost: TBC.
CREATING AND CURATING SPACES (THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX) Date/Time: 23 & 30 Apr. 18:00 – 21:00. Location: Ards Art Centre. Places/Cost: TBC. ANBC Residents/VAI members £5. Visitors/Non-members £10.
ROI Bookings and Information To register a place or to find any information on any of our upcoming Professional Development events in the Republic of Ireland, visit: visualartists.ie/professional-developmentp
Development Partners
NI Bookings and Information To register a place or to find any information on any of our upcoming Professional Development eventsin Northern Ireland, visit: visualartists.org.uk/booking
VISUAL ARTISTS HELPDESK/ PROJECT CLINIC Date/Time: 17 Jan, 14 Feb, 14 March, 11 Apr, 16 May. 12:00 – 17:00. Location: North Down Museum. Places/Cost: 6. £5/FREE (VAI members).
Causeway Coast & Glens We will be continuing our professional development programme into 2018 in partnership with Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council. Keep an eye on our website and facebook pages for details. Other projects planned for 2018: NEW SPACES In 2018 we will be looking for emerging curators to join a new programme designed to bring contemporary art to unconventional spaces across Northern Ireland. This programme will support curators in creating four exhibitions over the course of the year, with mentoring and training by leading arts professionals. This programme will be delivered in partnership with Derry and Strabane District Council and is supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s Challenge Fund.
Fees VAI members receive preferential discount of 50% on fees for all VAI, training and professional development events. Fees range from €5 – €40 for VAI members.
Tell us about your training needs! If you are interested in training please do get in touch with us directly or forward an expression of interest in a topic/s through the Professional Development Training web page. We often repeat workshops when there is a strong demand for a topic.
VAI Show & Tell Events VAI will schedule Show & Tell events during 2018 and invites interested artists, groups, venues or partners to get in touch if interested in hosting a Show & Tell. E: monica@visualartists.ie
Artist & Tutors Panel Visual Artists Ireland has an ongoing open submission process for artists and arts professionals interested in being part of an available panel of tutors contributing to the VAI Professional Development Training Programme. For details go to our training registration page and click on Register for the PDT Artists’ Panel.
